Observations from DeFi researcher Ignas brought Bankless cofounder David Hoffman's rotation from ETH into smaller coins under spotlight as LIT and ZEC display big gains.
The Ethereum advocate who sold his ETH is, for now, winning the argument. Bankless co-founder David Hoffman drew heavy criticism when he exited his Ether holdings in May and rotated into a basket of smaller tokens. Four months later, the two biggest positions, LIT and ZEC, are up roughly 369% and 110%, while ETH has added about 8%.
The scorecard came from DeFi researcher Ignas, who posted a performance chart on X on 6 September 2026, and was picked up by Wu Blockchain the following day. It has done what most crypto trades never do: settle a public fight with numbers.
For a media brand built on Ethereum, Hoffman's exit was never going to read as routine portfolio management. It read as a verdict. Moreover, the returns since have made that verdict harder to dismiss.
Hoffman disclosed on 26 May 2026 that he had sold the ETH position he had held for years. He framed the decision not as abandoning Ethereum but as a view that the "ETH is money" thesis was largely priced in, and that the network could keep growing without that growth showing up proportionally in the token, according to his posts at the time.
He also disclosed where the money went. In a post on X, Hoffman said he "immediately took ~50% of the capital to VVV, NEAR, ZEC, HYPE," with the remainder directed into LIT, as per reports of the disclosure in early June.
The reaction among Ethereum circles was sharp. A Bankless co-founder trimming ETH invited scrutiny by default, and the criticism was loud enough that Hoffman's timing, not just his thesis, became a subject of scrutiny.
Ignas's chart, built on Coinbase data via TradingView and measured from a common baseline near the time of the sale, showed LIT up 368.75%, ZEC up 110.41%, and NEAR up 54.23% as of 6 September 2026. ETH gained 8.15% over the same period, and VVV fell 5.55%. HYPE was not included in the comparison.
"David sold his ETH and rotated to the biggest winners: $LIT and $ZEC," Ignas wrote, adding that the sale "was also close to $ETH bottom" despite the criticism. His closing line was two words: "Nice win sir."
The shape of the returns matters as much as the headline. The bulk of the outperformance sits in a single position, LIT, which more than quadrupled. ZEC's rally rode a broader revival in privacy coins. NEAR beat ETH but by a moderate margin, and VVV was a loser.
The episode reopens a live argument about Ethereum's investment case. If a network can keep gaining adoption while its token lags, the "ETH is money" theory that Bankless helped popularize may already be in the price, which is exactly the point Hoffman made in May.
It is worth being precise about what the numbers do and do not show, though. The chart establishes percentage returns from a common start date, not position sizes or Hoffman's blended profit. With HYPE excluded and VVV in the red, the basket's overall result is unknown, even if its best positions are spectacular. And a concentrated bet on one token that then quadruples is a single data point, not a repeatable strategy.
What it does show is the gap between the network and the asset this year. ETH traded around $2,503 as of 6 September 2026, as per Coinbase data via TradingView, and was roughly flat against late May data while the smaller tokens moved. Whether that gap closes depends on the next leg for ETH, which the same thesis says may never fully arrive. For now, the trade that drew the most criticism of the summer is the one that worked.
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