Key Takeaways
- Arthur Hayes sparks backlash after dumping HYPE and NEAR.
- Sale comes shortly after a bullish $100,000 wager and a $150 prediction.
- The move has revived memories of crypto’s biggest controversies this cycle.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes angered the crypto market on Thursday after revealing he had sold his entire position in Hyperliquid’s HYPE token and Near Protocol’s NEAR, just days after publicly predicting HYPE could surge to $150.
The abrupt reversal has earned him widespread criticism on social media, with traders comparing his moves to other recent controversial insider sell-off allegations.
Hayes Sells Entire HYPE Position Days After $150 Call
In a post on X on June 4, Hayes announced he had fully exited both positions.
“I just dumped my entire $HYPE and $NEAR position, I will explain why in my essay ‘Reality Test’ dropping next Tuesday,” Hayes wrote.
Hayes transferred approximately $18 million in HYPE to the market maker Flowdesk, according to on-chain data.
He outlined several macroeconomic factors behind the decision, including higher energy prices, inventory restocking pressures, and expectations of multiple major AI IPOs in the coming months.
Hayes also said he believed US President Donald Trump could adopt a more skeptical stance toward AI ahead of the midterm elections.
“I think highs in mrkts will happen btw now and September,” Hayes wrote. “Time to take profit.”
The announcement surprised many traders because it came only four days after Hayes posted a highly bullish message about Hyperliquid.
“Meow – $HYPE to $150,” Hayes wrote on June 1.
When one user asked whether he would at least keep his Hyperliquid-themed profile picture, Hayes suggested the exit was temporary.
“Obvi – I’ll be back,” he said.
The sale nevertheless triggered backlash from many.
“You’ve turned into the most toxic person in crypto,” one user responded.
Others questioned Hayes’ credibility going forward.
“You’re so untrustworthy at this stage,” the user wrote. “Not even a week ago I took a 2.5 hour walk listening to a few podcasts in one of which you were calling for 10x/20x targets for things like NEAR.”
“I bought my bags not because of you, but why would people take a single word from you moving forward?”
Hayes Sale Comes After $100,000 HYPE Bet
The timing of Hayes’ liquidation also raised eyebrows because it came roughly a day after he publicly doubled down on his support for Hyperliquid through a $100,000 charitable wager.
Hayes challenged Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani to bet that HYPE would outperform any crypto currently ranked in the top ten by market capitalization through the end of 2025.
“I put $100k on the line to a charity of your choice that $HYPE outperforms any other current top ten crypto in USD terms from now until year’s end. Who is your champion?” Hayes wrote on June 1.
Samani accepted the wager and selected Solana as his challenger.
The bet was viewed as one of the strongest public endorsements of Hyperliquid yet, particularly because it implied HYPE could outperform assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP.
Crypto’s Biggest Controversies This Cycle
The backlash surrounding Hayes’ sale has revived memories of several of the most controversial alleged rug pulls of the current cycle.
Among the most notable mentioned across X was HAWK, the Solana-based memecoin linked to internet personality Haliey “Hawk Tuah” Welch.
The token briefly reached a market capitalization approaching $500 million in December 2024 before collapsing more than 90% within hours.
Another widely discussed case involved LIBRA, a token that surged to an estimated valuation of $4.5 billion after a social media post from President Javier Milei.
However, the token later crashed by more than 90%, prompting allegations of a coordinated pump-and-dump scheme and multiple investigations.
The M3M3 token linked to the Solana-based platform Meteora also attracted scrutiny in 2025.
Investors later alleged that insiders had manipulated trading activity to inflate prices before selling, resulting in substantial losses for retail traders.
Litigation connected to the project remains ongoing.
One of the largest market collapses by value was the April 2025 implosion of Mantra’s OM token, which lost more than 90% of its value during a rapid sell-off that erased billions of dollars in market capitalization.
Project leaders denied allegations of a rug pull, but the event became one of the year’s most debated token failures.
Unlike those projects, Hayes’ HYPE sale does not involve allegations of fraud—but many traders have questioned the validity of Hayes’ repeated bullish calls.
High-Profile Sales Have Drawn Scrutiny Beyond HYPE
Hayes is not the only prominent crypto figure whose public sale has recently attracted attention.
Bankless co-founder David Hoffman recently faced criticism after disclosing that he had sold his Ethereum holdings.
He argued that the long-standing “ETH is money” investment thesis had largely played out.
In a blog post, Hoffman said Ethereum had succeeded as a blockchain platform but had not evolved into the dominant monetary asset some supporters envisioned.
“The reason I sold my ETH accordingly is not because I am bearish ETH per se, but rather that I think the ‘ETH is money’ thesis has played out,” Hoffman wrote.
Unlike many of the controversial token collapses over the past two years, Hoffman’s sale was more taken as a transparent shift.
“It’s your investment, got no one to answer to, if you can outperform the market, Bankless will get more followers than ETH unsubscriber,” one user responded on X. “This is how I want Bankless to grow.”
Hoffman responded: “Bankless is still going to produce plenty of Ethereum content – there’s no change in strategy there.
“So anyone who is unsubscribing is doing purely on an ideological basis, which is their choice.”
Top Trending Crypto Articles
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
