Pendle ($PENDLE), a cryptocurrency powering a popular decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, has seen its price soar in recent days amid positive developments within the Pendle ecosystem and a high-profile investment from industry veteran Arthur Hayes, the co-founder of derivatives exchange BitMEX.
A key driver of the rally appears to be a strategic move by Hayes, a well-respected figure in the cryptocurrency space, who posted on the microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter) he was adding $PENDLe and the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin ($DOGE) to his holdings.
Pendle jumped roughly 20% this week, reaching an intraday high of $6.2 before correcting to around $5.95 at the time of writing, after Hayes publicly announced his purchase. According to on-chain analysis firm Lookonchain, after his announcement Hayes sent $2.05 million worth of USDC to Wintermute, and received back 280 ETH worth $1 million and 92,339.6 PENDLE worth $554,000.
After Arthur Hayes(@CryptoHayes) tweeted that he is adding $PENDLE and $DOGE to his bags, one of his wallets bought 92,339.6 $PENDLE($554K) through #Wintermute.He transferred 2.05M $USDC to #Wintermute, then received 280 $ETH($1M) and 92,339.6 $PENDLE($554K).… pic.twitter.com/wo2Sl4245B
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) June 20, 2024
Beyond Hayes’ influence, Pendle’s internal developments are propelling the current momentum. The project’s total value locked (TVL), a metric reflecting the total value of crypto assets deposited within the protocol, has witnessed a significant increase since the beginning of the year to now stand at $6.37 billion.
This surge in TVL suggests growing user adoption of the protocol, which allows users to earn yields on their cryptocurrency holdings, with some exceeding 25% at a time in which the number of PENDLE token holders is steadily rising.
Dogecoin has meanwhile seem major whales divest of their holdings, with their supply of it dropping from 45.3% to 31.3% over the past year. According to data shared by IntoTheBlock, over the past year DOGE holders with more than 0.1% of the cryptocurrency’s supply have been selling, while retail and mid-sized investors now hold a larger share of the cryptocurrency’s supply.
Featured image via Pixabay.
