Arthur Hayes exits Maelstrom trades as $22.28m in token sales emerge

Arthur Hayes has said he has closed Maelstrom's directional trading book, citing macroeconomic and geopolitical risks, as Lookonchain has reported $22.28 million in sales across Ethereum and six other tokens.

Summary

• Arthur Hayes says he closed Maelstrom's directional book amid macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty.
• Lookonchain reported $22.28 million in sales across ETH, ENA, UNI, ETHFI, AERO, PENDLE and ZAMA.
• Ethereum accounted for approximately 68% of the reported sales, totaling 6,400 ETH worth $15.2 million.
• Hayes plans to remain on the sidelines, reversing Maelstrom's previously declared maximum-risk positioning.

Lookonchain identified 6,400 ETH as the largest component of the transactions in an Oct. 24 post, valuing the Ethereum at $15.2 million. A subsequent post from the blockchain tracker shared Hayes's statement that he had taken profits on ETH, ENA, UNI, and other tokens.

👇 pic.twitter.com/aUIH2uLFaX --- Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 24, 2026

Arthur Hayes says macro risks drove his exit

In his statement on X, the BitMEX co-founder described the positions as Maelstrom's directional book and said he intended to wait before returning to the market.

"I think we gotta go down to go up."

Hayes attributed his caution to conditions in "macro and geopolitical land," without identifying a particular policy decision, conflict or economic release. He gave no price target for Bitcoin or Ethereum and did not set a date for rebuilding the positions.

His reference to the directional book limits the scope of the announcement. The statement did not provide a complete inventory of Maelstrom's investments, remaining holdings, hedges, or private-market commitments. It did not separately identify a Bitcoin sale.

Although Hayes described the disposals as profit-taking, he did not publish acquisition prices or realized returns. Lookonchain's dollar figures describe the reported value of the tokens involved, not the amount of profit earned.

Ethereum accounts for roughly 68% of the reported sales

Beyond ETH, Lookonchain listed 14 million ENA worth $2.76 million and 323,000 UNI valued at $2.24 million. The tracker included 1.89 million ETHFI worth $1.23 million.

The smaller positions comprised 546,609 AERO valued at $398,000, 120,000 PENDLE worth $244,000 and 3 million ZAMA worth $214,000, according to its breakdown.

Adding the seven rounded valuations produces $22.286 million, close to the tracker's $22.28 million headline figure. On that basis, Ethereum represented approximately 68.2% of the listed value, while the other six tokens accounted for $7.086 million.

ETH, ENA and UNI together represented $20.2 million, or roughly 90.6% of the listed total. The calculation uses Lookonchain's rounded dollar amounts and does not establish exact execution proceeds or trading fees.

The posts did not provide a complete transaction-by-transaction account of execution venues or counterparties. Hayes's statement supports his account of selling, but it does not independently reconcile every quantity in the tracker's list with a completed trade.

Maelstrom previously declared maximum risk exposure

The exit follows an earlier period when Hayes publicly backed aggressive exposure to crypto. As crypto.news previously reported on Aug. 25, he had described Maelstrom as being at maximum risk exposure, naming Bitcoin, Ether, Ethena and Ether.fi among its main positions.

The underlying essay, "Same Same But Different," carries an Aug. 24 date on his Substack. Hayes argued that U.S. Treasury efforts to support the government bond market would create conditions favorable to Bitcoin and other crypto assets.

His argument centered on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's approach to bond buybacks and dollar liquidity. Hayes expected volatility even if his bullish forecast proved correct, warning readers that an upward market could contain severe corrections.

The August coverage distinguished his interpretation from the Treasury's stated purpose for buybacks, which was supporting market liquidity and managing cash. The operations were not equivalent to Federal Reserve quantitative easing.

Neither the August essay nor the Oct. 24 statement supplied audited portfolio records. The earlier declaration and latest exit describe Hayes's stated positioning at different times; they do not establish the full sequence of Maelstrom's trades between those dates.

Earlier Ethereum trades involved both buying and selling

Hayes-linked wallet activity has previously included purchases followed by reported disposals within days. On June 15, Lookonchain identified a wallet possibly linked to him that received 3,000 ETH worth $5.42 million from market maker Flowdesk.

The wallet attribution was qualified in the original report. A transfer from a market maker did not, by itself, provide a full record of the recipient's other holdings or financing arrangements.

In the same June coverage, Hayes's June 8 essay "Reality Test" was cited as disclosing sales of Hyperliquid, Near Protocol, Worldcoin and Zcash. He characterized those decisions as a defensive response to macro risks while retaining Bitcoin and Ethereum as core holdings at that time.

During the June 15 session, the same coverage identified another wallet, geministar.eth, as accumulating 21,136 ETH worth around $37 million from Binance. Ethereum had risen almost 6% over the preceding 24 hours and traded near $1,828 at the time of that report. Those prices and wallet movements refer to June and are not current market readings.

By June 19, Lookonchain had reported that he sold 6,000 ETH for approximately $10.14 million, at an average price of $1,690. The tracker estimated a loss of $606,000 after reporting purchases of roughly 5,900 ETH at an average price of $1,793 in the preceding days.