On May 21, Bankless co-founder David Hoffman announced he had liquidated all his ETH.
On the same day, Ryan Sean Adams posted that "the first era of Bankless has ended," stepping back behind the scenes and handing full control to David.
Also on that day, former employee Lucas revealed on social media: "Bankless clearly laid off most of the team yesterday. There was no word of thanks, nor any public announcement to help team members find new positions."
One liquidated, one stepped down, one exposed layoffs—three people took three actions on the same day, with timing so precise it seemed rehearsed.
But the story gets even more interesting.
On June 3, Hoffman disclosed his buy list: VVV, NEAR, ZEC, HYPE, LIT.
Entry prices were clear: NEAR around $1.40, HYPE about $45, ZEC about $560, LIT about $1.35.
On June 5, these coins plummeted. What was Hoffman's response?
He only casually mentioned a floating loss on ZEC.
He had just announced his holdings two days earlier, then two days later the prices crashed, and he chose silence. Do you think he panicked or was waiting?
On September 18, the answer was revealed.
Hoffman posted on X: "We have now entered altcoin season, and the real market moment has come earlier than expected."
On the same day, he labeled NEAR as "a generalized version of ZEC," saying ZEC encrypts capital, while NEAR encrypts business activity.
Let's look at his portfolio at this time:
LIT: $5.02, entry price $1.35, up 272%.
ZEC: $1512, entry price $560, up 170%.
NEAR: $3.49, entry price $1.40, up 149%.
HYPE: $86.51, entry price $45, up 92%.
VVV: about $25, up about 58%.
During the same period, ETH rose from $2127 to $2473, up 16%.
Returns five times that of ETH.
Then he chose this moment to publicly declare "altcoin season has arrived."
Do you think he was sharing a market judgment or managing his own holdings?
Don't rush to criticize him. Put emotions aside first.
Hoffman's chosen tokens do have real catalysts:
ZEC—Grayscale spot ETF launched, asset size approaching $700 million. Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang publicly confirmed holding ZEC, calling Zcash a privacy complement to Bitcoin. NU7 governance vote showed 98.9% support to retain the halving mechanism.
HYPE—Protocol has burned 48.17 million HYPE tokens, worth about $3.9 billion. After AQAv2 mechanism started, an additional $135 million to $160 million is repurchased annually, with ETF cumulative net inflows around $301 million.
NEAR—Fee Switch mechanism activated in February, with 100% of protocol fees used to repurchase NEAR on the open market, forming a textbook value capture flywheel.
He is not shouting blindly. The coins he chose have real substance.
But the timing of his shout is the real thing to ponder.
Look at another data point.
BlockchainCenter's altcoin season index read 37 on September 9. The threshold for altcoin season is 75; only above 75 is it considered altcoin season.
37. Not even half the threshold.
Where is mainstream capital flowing? As of September 9, the net inflows to ETFs in the past 30 days were: Bitcoin $3.42 billion, ETH $1.76 billion, SOL and XRP about $200 million each. Money is revolving around top assets, with no spillover into the broader altcoin market.
The "altcoin season" Hoffman talks about is the rally of a small group of coins. Not a rotation across the entire market.
When he calls altcoin season, the altcoin season index is only 37. This is not market judgment; this is portfolio management.
Here comes the core issue.
When a person controls one of the most influential media platforms in crypto, every "market judgment" they make naturally carries leverage.
Bankless has 200,000 email subscribers and 2 million podcast downloads monthly. Their voice in crypto is not "just a Twitter account," but a media machine that shapes narratives.
What did Hoffman do with this machine?
He liquidated ETH in May, completed his build-up, experienced a crash, saw his holdings soar, then at this point declared "altcoin season has arrived"—and conveniently packaged his second largest holding NEAR as "a generalized version of ZEC."
ZEC is surging, and tagging NEAR as "ZEC 2.0" is perfectly timed.
I do not deny Hoffman's judgment ability.
His reason for liquidating ETH is logical—"The 'ETH is Money' narrative is complete, most fees and profits have been diverted to Layer 2, and ETH has limited room for market revaluation."
His coin selection logic is clear: betting on privacy track with ZEC, derivatives track with HYPE and LIT, cross-chain infrastructure with NEAR, decentralized AI inference with VVV.
The results prove he was right. Five times ETH's returns—who can argue?
But please remember one thing:
When a person's media power highly overlaps with their holding direction, every word they say requires you to ask one more question: Are they sharing insight or looking for buyers?
Hoffman may be right. But he is not predicting altcoin season; he is seeking more participants for his altcoin season.
His holdings need a narrative to support their valuation, and his platform just happens to have the ability to create narratives.
Put the two together, and you are that "more participant."
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