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 section of the market.
In a publish on X, Hoffman mentioned he “immediately took ~50% of the capital to VVV, NEAR, ZEC, HYPE” after promoting ETH. The opposite half, he mentioned, was held again for dollar-cost averaging into an asset that had not already moved sharply greater.
“I left the rest as capital to DCA into something not already up multiples,” Hoffman wrote, including that NEAR was an exception as a result of it was “~1.40 at the time.” He then mentioned he had accomplished that second leg of the rotation: “I’ve finished buying LIT with that remaining 50%.”
Why Hoffman Selected LIT As Subsequent Main Crypto Guess
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 person would select Lighter over Robinhood. Hoffman framed the reply round product specialization, market construction and auditability somewhat than merely token hypothesis.
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“The easy answer is that Robinhood is an everything platform, and Lighter is highly optimized for perps specifically,” Hoffman wrote. “Lighter has more assets, including more pre-IPO markets. Lighter doesn’t require KYC sign up, and Robinhood Perps are for only a closed group of users in the EU.”
He acknowledged one necessary constraint: “By contrast, Lighter is VPN blocked in the US.” However 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 trade’s rule enforcement with out permission.
“zkLighter is fully auditable by end users, so anyone can permissionlessly verify the exchange is following its own rules,” he wrote. “Order matching, funding, risk checks, liquidations etc are defined in zk circuits, so Ethereum verifies that they followed Lighter’s rules before 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 privileged party trading against users,” invoking the FTX and Alameda collapse because the related failure mode.
Hoffman additionally emphasised latency and execution value. He claimed Lighter has “the best latency of any perp exchange” and “the best fee structure,” whereas pointing to third-party comparisons in opposition to Hyperliquid. On Robinhood, nevertheless, he was extra cautious, saying he couldn’t decide Robinhood perps immediately as a result of he can not entry them and wouldn’t be capable to audit them in the identical approach.
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“Maybe Robinhood, when it eventually rolls out perps, also has a 0-fee structure too,” he wrote. “But that means a tie between RH and Lighter, not a RH win.”
The controversy additionally uncovered pushback from elements of the Ethereum neighborhood. One person accused Hoffman of going “from eth maxi to the other extreme,” whereas one other recommended he had grow to be extra of a short-term dealer. Hoffman rejected each characterizations.
“The technology under all of these assets is pretty interesting too,” he replied to at least one critic. To a different who joked about him having an funding thesis and sticking to it, Hoffman responded: “My last investment thesis I had for eight years. God forbid I get a new one!”
Requested immediately 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 speed 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.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
