Arthur Hayes Sells $13M in Crypto, Predicts BTC & ETH Price Drop

Highlights:

• Hayes sold $13.35M in PEPE, ETH, and ENA during crypto market turbulence.
• He said Trump’s tariffs caused market ups and downs, leading him to act carefully.
• Crypto market weakens as profit-taking, ETF outflows, and whale activity drive a sharp correction.

Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of BitMEX, sold approximately $13 million worth of crypto assets on Friday as the market experienced increased volatility and downward pressure. On-chain data from Lookonchain and Arkham shows that Hayes liquidated 2,373 Ethereum (ETH) worth $8.32 million, 7.76 million Ethena (ENA) valued at $4.62 million, and 38.86 billion Pepe (PEPE) totaling around $414,700.

Arthur Hayes(@CryptoHayes) sold 2,373 $ETH($8.32M), 7.76M $ENA($4.62M) and 38.86B $PEPE($414.7K) in the past 6 hours.https://t.co/1HymJRPhcj pic.twitter.com/MoJNKUjJaQ

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 2, 2025

Arthur Hayes carried out the sales across several centralized and decentralized platforms, including Binance, Uniswap, and B2C2. Transaction screenshots reveal that he converted part of his wrapped Ethereum (wETH) into ETH. He then transferred it to exchanges, which points to selling actively.

Later on, the Maelstrom executive explained that his decision to sell was mainly influenced by Donald Trump’s new tariffs. He believes Bitcoin and Ethereum could both see price corrections. He predicts BTC will test the $100,000 resistance again, while ETH may drop toward $3,000. Arthur Hayes had earlier warned traders about possible volatility. He urged them not to overreact to policy shifts like Trump’s tariff plans.

Y? US Tariff bill coming due in 3q … at least the mrkt believes that after NFP print. No major econ is creating enough credit fast enough to boost nominal gdp. So $BTC tests $100k, $ETH tests $3k. Come see my @WebX_Asia Tokyo keynote Aug 25 for more info. Back to the beach. https://t.co/zuHlwgQKC7

— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) August 2, 2025

The market drop followed Bitcoin’s fall to $113,564 in just 24 hours. Ethereum slipped 4%, dropping under $3,500, while PEPE and ENA also fell around 2%, as per CoinMarketCap.

Hayes’ selling matches his usual trading style. He bought $1.5M in ENA just weeks ago. He’s not leaving the market, just moving funds—selling during dips and keeping cash ready. It shows he’s being careful but still believes in crypto’s long-term growth.

Crypto Market Sees Drop Amid ETF Outflows

According to Julio Moreno, Head of Research at CryptoQuant, this is the third big profit-taking phase during the current bull run. He said such phases usually point to a correction phase before another potential rally.

Profit, Pause, Push: Bitcoin is undergoing its third major wave of profit-taking in the current bull market.

This leads to a period of consolidation/correction before the next leg up.

View our most recent report, published yesterday, in the post below 👇 pic.twitter.com/Xu2kq035N3

— Julio Moreno (@jjcmoreno) August 1, 2025

 

Spot Bitcoin ETFs added to the market decline by recording their second-largest one-day outflow on Friday, totaling $812 million. Fidelity’s FBTC saw the biggest outflow with $331 million withdrawn. Ethereum ETFs also saw pressure, with $152 million pulled out, ending a 20-day inflow streak. Grayscale’s ETHE led the losses, followed by outflows from Bitwise and Fidelity.

Ethereum Market Sees Mixed Moves from Whales and Institutions

Meanwhile, Lookonchain shared that Arthur Hayes isn’t the only one selling Ethereum. Another whale, with the wallet “0x3c9E,” sent 26,182 ETH (worth $93.66 million) to Binance, Bybit, OKX, and Kraken in just 48 hours.

As the market drops, whales are panic-selling $ETH!

Whale 0x3c9E has deposited 26,182 $ETH($93.66M) to #Binance, #Bybit, #OKX, and #Kraken over the past 48 hours.https://t.co/VmJwGGRsLJ pic.twitter.com/Yth5ZamJd6

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 2, 2025

Still, some traders view Ethereum’s recent dip as a buying opportunity. A newly created wallet, “0xdf0A,” obtained 16,496 ETH, valued at $58.5 million, from Galaxy Digital’s OTC address. According to Lookonchain, 12 newly created wallets have purchased a combined 808,347 ETH (around $2.85 billion) since July 9.

Meanwhile, SharpLink Gaming took advantage of the market dip by purchasing more ETH. The company spent 108.57 million USDC to acquire 14,933 ETH (valued at $52.5 million), according to Lookonchain. This latest move raised its total Ethereum holdings to 464,209 ETH, worth approximately $1.63 billion.