Maelstrom CIO Liquidates Ethereum and DeFi Positions
Arthur Hayes, Chief Investment Officer of crypto investment fund Maelstrom, sold approximately $26 million in cryptocurrency holdings on October 24, according to on-chain analyst EmberCN. The liquidation included 8,000 ETH valued at $19 million, along with positions in Ethena (14 million ENA, $3 million), Uniswap (323,000 UNI, $2 million), Ether.fi (1,890,000 ETHFI, $1 million), Aerodrome Finance (547,000 AERO, $400,000), Pendle (120,000 PENDLE, $240,000), and Zama (3 million ZAMA, $210,000).
Hayes described the trades as profit-taking in response to mounting macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. “I think we gotta go down to go up,” Hayes said. He stated he would remain on the sidelines until market conditions provided clearer signals to resume trading.
The exit represents a shift from Hayes’ September positioning, when he maintained a $10,000 year-end Ethereum price target and expected Federal Reserve dollar liquidity increases to support cryptocurrency prices. Ethereum and selected DeFi tokens represented speculative positions for Maelstrom, while Bitcoin was described as a structural long-term holding.
Santiment Reports Largest Ethereum Outflow in Four Months
On October 23, one day before Hayes’ announcement, blockchain analytics firm Santiment reported that 169,770 ETH left exchanges in a single day. The figure marked the largest daily net exchange outflow in more than four months, comparable to an episode on June 5 when 223,800 ETH departed exchanges as Ethereum reached its lowest price since April 2025.
Santiment noted that transfers to private wallets, custody services, or staking arrangements can reduce exchange balances without necessarily representing fresh buying demand. The firm identified $2,400 as an immediate pivot level for Ethereum, with $2,500 strengthening its bottoming thesis and $2,330 weakening it.
The timing of Santiment’s October 23 outflow report preceded Hayes’ October 24 sales announcement. A Federal Reserve policy meeting is scheduled for October 27 through 28.
