BitMEX Co-founder Arthur Hayes Dumps HYPE for a Ferrari, Then Tells Followers Not to Worry

Arthur Hayes, the BitMEX co-founder who present runs crypto task money Maelstrom, sold his idiosyncratic stash of Hyperliquid’s HYPE tokens conscionable weeks aft predicting the plus could rally 126-fold.

Ferrari jokes and blockchain receipts

Blockchain analytics work Lookonchain reported connected Sunday that Hayes unloaded 96,628 HYPE — worthy astir $5.1 cardinal — booking a nett of astir $823,000, oregon 19%, successful a month.

Not agelong after, Hayes confirmed the determination with his trademark irreverence, posting connected X: “Need to wage my deposit connected the caller Rari 849 Testarossa.” The remark fueled backlash from traders who accused him of pumping HYPE successful August earlier rapidly exiting.

Hayes pushed back connected Monday, insisting the merchantability was tied to concerns laid retired by his firm. “This is wherefore we dumped $HYPE today. But don’t interest 126x is inactive imaginable 2028 is simply a agelong mode off,” helium wrote.

Maelstrom warns of $11.9B proviso unlocks

Earlier today, Maelstrom published a lengthy X post outlining what it called HYPE’s “first existent test.”

Starting Nov. 29, 237.8 cardinal HYPE volition statesman vesting linearly implicit 2 years — unlocking astir $500 cardinal of tokens per month. At existent prices of astir $50, that represents $11.9 cardinal of proviso entering circulation.

The station estimated Hyperliquid’s buyback programme could lone sorb astir 17% of that flow, leaving a imaginable $410 cardinal monthly overhang. “Has the marketplace priced successful the sheer standard of these unlocks?” Maelstrom asked.

Maelstrom framed the looming proviso daze arsenic earthy for a fast-growing protocol but warned that ample vested allocations whitethorn tempt aboriginal developers and insiders to sell. The steadfast besides noted that adjacent ample decentralized autonomous treasury (DAT) deals, specified arsenic Sonnet’s $583 cardinal HYPE raise, won’t offset the standard of the unlocks.

Still betting connected a decentralized Binance

The remarks contrasted sharply with Hayes’s Aug. 27 blog post, wherever helium called Hyperliquid a “decentralized Binance” and argued HYPE could ascent 126x by 2028. That thesis relied connected bold assumptions: a $10 trillion stablecoin market, Hyperliquid capturing a Binance-level trading share, and interest structures holding steady.

Despite selling his tokens, Hayes reiterated that semipermanent presumption connected Monday, describing the upcoming unlock arsenic a hurdle, not a decease blow. In his words, “2028 is simply a agelong mode off.”

Hyperliquid has surged to go a ascendant subordinate successful decentralized perpetual futures, and its HYPE token remains cardinal to governance, staking and interest distribution. Whether the marketplace tin digest astir $12 cardinal successful caller proviso whitethorn find if Hayes’s forecast proves prescient — oregon overly ambitious.