Bankless Co-Founder Reveals New Crypto Portfolio After Ethereum Sale

Bankless co-founder David Hoffman has disclosed how he redeployed capital after promoting ETH, revealing a brand new portfolio tilted towards VVV, NEAR, ZEC, HYPE and LIT. The transfer marks a notable shift for considered one of Ethereum’s most recognizable public advocates and has triggered debate over whether or not Hoffman is rotating into a brand new long-term thesis or chasing a special phase of the market.

In a post on X, Hoffman mentioned he “instantly took ~50% of the capital to VVV, NEAR, ZEC, HYPE” after promoting ETH. The different half, he mentioned, was held again for dollar-cost averaging into an asset that had not already moved sharply increased.

“I left the remaining as capital to DCA into one thing not already up multiples,” Hoffman wrote, including that NEAR was an exception as a result of it was “~1.40 on the time.” He then mentioned he had accomplished that second leg of the rotation: “I’ve completed shopping for LIT with that remaining 50%.”

Why Hoffman Chose LIT As Next Major Crypto Bet

The disclosure shortly shifted right into a broader dialogue about Hoffman’s funding thesis round LIT and Lighter, notably after Multicoin Capital’s Kyle Samani requested why a consumer would select Lighter over Robinhood. Hoffman framed the reply round product specialization, market construction and auditability moderately than merely token hypothesis.

“The straightforward reply is that Robinhood is an every part platform, and Lighter is extremely optimized for perps particularly,” Hoffman wrote. “Lighter has extra belongings, together with extra pre-IPO markets. Lighter doesn’t require KYC join, and Robinhood Perps are for less than a closed group of customers within the EU.”

He acknowledged one essential constraint: “By distinction, Lighter is VPN blocked within the US.” But Hoffman argued that the deeper distinction is transparency. He pointed to zkLighter, Lighter’s zero-knowledge system, which he mentioned permits finish customers to confirm the change’s rule enforcement with out permission.

“zkLighter is absolutely auditable by finish customers, so anybody can permissionlessly confirm the change is following its personal guidelines,” he wrote. “Order matching, funding, danger checks, liquidations and many others are outlined in zk circuits, so Ethereum verifies that they adopted Lighter’s guidelines earlier than accepting state updates. Bullish crypto ethos!”

For Hoffman, the auditability declare is just not merely technical branding. He argued that it goes on to dealer and market-maker belief, as a result of contributors can confirm that “there is no such thing as a privileged occasion buying and selling in opposition to customers,” invoking the FTX and Alameda collapse because the related failure mode.

Hoffman additionally emphasised latency and execution price. He claimed Lighter has “the perfect latency of any perp change” and “the perfect price construction,” whereas pointing to third-party comparisons in opposition to Hyperliquid. On Robinhood, nevertheless, he was extra cautious, saying he couldn’t choose Robinhood perps straight as a result of he can’t entry them and wouldn’t be capable of audit them in the identical means.

“Maybe Robinhood, when it will definitely rolls out perps, additionally has a 0-fee construction too,” he wrote. “But which means a tie between RH and Lighter, not a RH win.”

The debate additionally uncovered pushback from components of the Ethereum neighborhood. One consumer accused Hoffman of going “from eth maxi to the opposite excessive,” whereas one other recommended he had turn into extra of a short-term dealer. Hoffman rejected each characterizations.

“The know-how below all of those belongings is fairly attention-grabbing too,” he replied to at least one critic. To one other who joked about him having an funding thesis and sticking to it, Hoffman responded: “My final funding thesis I had for eight years. God forbid I get a brand new one!”

Asked straight about LIT versus HYPE, Hoffman mentioned he views the place as each “beta and alpha” to HYPE. His reasoning centered on relative buybacks, product high quality and regulatory positioning, citing “LIT buybacks” as shifting at “2x the relative velocity of HYPE Buybacks,” alongside what he described as a technically superior product, higher charges, stronger latency and US domicile.

At press time LIT traded at $1.50.