On August 2, an address belonging to former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes sold a portion of its cryptocurrency holdings within six hours: 2,373 ETH ($8.32 million), 7.76 million ENA ($4.62 million), and 38.86 billion PEPE ($414,700). Analysts at Lookonchain noted this activity.
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
The wallet retains about 233 ETH worth $809,000 and 1,167 weETH valued at $4.33 million. The primary holding consists of 22.94 million USDC.
Another address associated with the entrepreneur holds ETH, EETH, and other coins valued at $27.1 million.
Later, Hayes confirmed the sale. Explaining his reasoning, he stated that “a US tariff bill is expected to come due in the third quarter, at least that’s what the market believes following the jobs data release.”
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
“No major economy is creating enough credit to increase nominal GDP,” added the former BitMEX CEO.
He predicts a correction for Bitcoin, testing $100,000, and Ethereum dropping to $3,000.
An Unstable Situation
In May, Hayes suggested that the leading cryptocurrency could rise to $150,000 by the end of 2025. However, he emphasized the importance of maintaining an accommodative policy by the US Federal Reserve (Fed).
At that time, he believed conditions were ideal for a rally, including high market uncertainty, which “would force the Fed to print money.”
On July 30, the regulator held another meeting, leaving the key rate unchanged. Fed Chair Jerome Powell provided a cautious comment on future policy but mentioned cryptocurrencies positively:
“[Banks] are quite capable of serving cryptocurrency clients if they understand the risks and can manage them. […] strengthening the regulatory framework for digital assets would be very constructive.”
At the time of writing, 80.3% of market participants expect the Fed to cut rates by 25 basis points at the September meeting.
Despite the cautious optimism, Bitcoin fell from $118,000 to $113,000 in early August.
The decline followed a statement by US President Donald Trump regarding trade tariffs against India. Additionally, experts at CryptoQuant observed a significant wave of profit-taking in Bitcoin.
Earlier, the analyst known as Rekt Capital claimed the bull market would end in the autumn.