BitMEX’s Arthur Hayes blasts EOS for failure, calls it ‘most value-destructive’ ICO of 2017

Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes criticized EOS as the most disruptive ICO of 2017, noting the project’s lack of follow-through after raising billions of dollars through token sales.

Once hailed as a breakthrough in blockchain finance, the 2017 EOS (EOS) initial coin offering now faces harsh criticism from Arthur Hayes, who called it the “most value-destroying” offering of the year despite a massive $4.1 billion raise.

In his latest blog post titled “The Cure,” the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX noted that EOS’ post-launch stagnation is emblematic of the risks posed by large-scale ICOs. He noted that despite no significant advancements or innovations following its launch, EOS has managed to maintain a market cap of $1.2 billion, which is a striking testament to the volatility of the crypto world.

“There was obvious nonsense that an ICO was happening in 2017. My award for the most value-impairing ICO goes to EOS. Block.one raised $4.1 billion in cryptocurrency to create EOS. EOS was launched and was never heard from again.”

Arthur Hayes

The former BitMEX CEO agreed, calling the launch of the ICO a “beautiful thing” from a financial market perspective, but underlined that the long-term value of EOS does not live up to the hype. He emphasized that although the project’s ICO marked the peak of the 2017 crypto bubble, many other projects from that period also disappeared without a trace.

“To get to 10,000x you have to accept that most of your investments will trade for close to zero post-ICO. But this is better than the current VC coin setup where 10,000x is almost mathematically impossible, but you can still experience a 75% drop per month after the CEX launch.”

Arthur Hayes

In his commentary, Hayes also warned retail investors about the dangers of high, fully diluted valuations and low float tokens, and warned against “overvalued tokens” on centralized exchanges that could harm investors’ portfolios. He also advocated a return to ICOs, which give retail participants the chance to earn significant returns, and called for renewed “fanatical support” for new crypto projects.

When Block.one ran the ICO for EOS, it set a new precedent by raising a record $4.1 billion over the course of a year from June 2017 to June 2018. This massive fundraising surpassed all previous ICOs, marking EOS as the largest token sale. was in the crypto space at the time.

However, the ambitious promises of the project were never realized. Despite massive funding, the EOS platform has struggled with many of the technical and governance issues it promises to solve. Eventually, in 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Block.one of conducting an unregistered securities offering in the United States, which led to a $24 million settlement, although Block.one has denied any wrongdoing.

According to the latest data, EOS is trading at $1.15, a dramatic 95% drop from its all-time high of $22.89 reached on April 29, 2018.