Blockchain researcher ZachXBT publicly criticized BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes on June 6, accusing him of selling tokens he had previously promoted.
He questioned what portion of the so-called “exit liquidity” was provided by Hayes’ followers who bought these assets after his public endorsements.
The criticism was triggered by Hayes’ trades over the past two weeks. During this period, he fully or partially exited positions in NEAR, HYPE, ZEC, and WLD. According to ZachXBT, the sales took place after Hayes had publicly spoken positively about these tokens and drawn the attention of retail investors.
Which Tokens Did Arthur Hayes Sell After Publicly Promoting Them
On May 22, Arthur Hayes called HYPE from Hyperliquid, ZEC from Zcash, and NEAR from Near Protocol his “holy trinity” and announced he had opened long positions in these assets.
However, by June 4, he had completely exited his investments in HYPE and NEAR. In a post on X, Hayes said he would explain the reasons for this decision in more detail in an upcoming essay titled Reality Test.
See also: Jupiter Launches Prediction Market on Solana
According to him, several factors influenced the decision: rising energy prices due to the conflict around Iran, the expected IPOs of three major AI companies, and the assumption that Donald Trump might change his position on artificial intelligence ahead of the midterm elections.
The next day, Hayes also closed his position in ZEC. He cited a vulnerability discovered in Orchard Pool as the reason.
Commenting on the situation, Hayes stated that the idea of privacy and data protection from AI, governments, and large tech companies requires flawless execution. According to him, the discovered issue likely prevented the creation of new tokens, but it is not yet possible to completely rule out such a possibility using cryptographic methods. At that moment, he claimed he was still holding WLD.
However, this position lasted less than a day.
On June 4, Hayes called Worldcoin a bet on a possible IPO of SpaceX on the Nasdaq exchange and wrote that such a listing could have a huge impact on the market.
But as early as June 6, he announced the sale of WLD as well, briefly explaining his decision with the words:
“This chart is moving in the wrong direction.”
How ZachXBT Responded to Hayes
ZachXBT pointed out all four sales in his post and directly addressed Hayes. He asked how much “exit liquidity” his followers had provided in recent days, listing the sold assets: first NEAR, HYPE, and ZEC, then WLD.
Hayes responded to the accusations briefly. He said he sold the tokens to a willing buyer at market price. He added that if prices had gone up after the sale, he would have been called a fool. However, this time, according to Hayes, he simply assessed the situation correctly in terms of his trading goals.
Could Hayes Face a New Wave of Criticism
The argument erupted amid ongoing discussions about the influence of popular crypto market participants on investor behavior. Arthur Hayes has a large audience, and his posts can significantly influence the sentiment of retail traders. The post about closing positions in HYPE and NEAR garnered more than 3,300 likes and over 500 quotes on X.
See also: SpaceX to Go Public Without S&P 500 Support
This is exactly what ZachXBT drew attention to. In his opinion, the scheme looks as follows: first, public support for a token attracts attention and creates demand, after which the asset is sold amid increased interest from the audience.
At the same time, each of Hayes’ trades had its own explanation. In one case, he cited macroeconomic risks, in another — project security issues, and elsewhere the decision was explained by the technical market picture. However, ZachXBT believes that if you look at all the sales together, it was Hayes’ followers who may have been the ones buying the assets before he exited his positions.
According to CoinMarketCap, as of June 6, the WLD token was trading around $0.42. This is more than 96% below the all-time high of $11.82 reached in March 2024.
It is worth noting that Hayes has previously publicly discussed his investments and changes in positions. In particular, he remained one of the most prominent supporters of ZEC for a long time. In May, Hayes suggested that ZEC could rise to 10% of bitcoin’s value. At that time, such a forecast implied a price above $8,000, about 14 times the token’s market value.
The essay Reality Test, which Hayes promised to publish to explain the sales of HYPE and NEAR, had not been released at the time of publication. Therefore, market participants continue to wait to see if he will address all four trades and answer the questions raised by ZachXBT.
