The cryptocurrency world witnessed a masterclass in market contradiction as BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes quietly liquidated his entire $5.1 million HYPE position, pocketing substantial profits while his bullish predictions still echoed through trading floors. The cryptocurrency veteran pocketed $823,000 in profit from his brief but lucrative month-long investment in Hyperliquid’s native token.
Hayes revealed his stunning departure on September 21, saying he would “pay my deposit on the new Rari 849 Testarossa” in a tweet that had the crypto community buzzing. The high-end car boasts up to $590,000 price points, and Hayes’ bonanza comes just in time for his car dreams.
Blockchain analytics tool Lookonchain and HypurrScan monitored the huge transaction, which showed Hayes made a 19.2% gain on his 96,628 HYPE tokens. The sale was made just weeks after the crypto billionaire’s spectacularly bullish forecasts at Tokyo’s WebX 2025 conference, where he put HYPE’s potential at 126 times its current price in three years.
The token stands at $49.48, having decreased by 8.1% over the last 24 hours, but with an eye-watering 660% increase since launch on $6.51 in late November. Hyperliquid’s decentralized derivatives platform has made waves, with volumes jumping from $560 million in early August to a peak of $3.4 billion towards the end of the month.
Market Pressures Drive Strategic Exit
Hayes’ timing came at a time when Hyperliquid faces increasing competitive pressure from its Binance-backed competitor Aster, which was recently championed as a formidable perpetuals trading platform by former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
The sale prompted a 5% price drop in HYPE, as other major holders also moved a large amount of the tokens. One whale, who is likely Techno_Revenant, sold $122 million of HYPE tokens, the equivalent of over $90 million in uncollected profits from purchases made nine months ago at around $12.
Although he liquidated his HYPE position, Hayes hasn’t abandoned decentralized finance. Data indicate that he purchased nearly $1 million worth of Ethena’s ENA tokens on two consecutive days, reflecting that there is still trust in the broader DeFi system.
Bold Predictions Remain Unscathed
Hayes maintains his aggressive long-term HYPE forecast despite cashing out for Italian horsepower. His $5,000 price target assumes accelerating fiat currency debasement will fuel explosive stablecoin market growth, potentially driving Hyperliquid’s annualized fees from the current $1.2 billion to an astronomical $255 billion.
The risk-taking 40-year-old executive also predicts Bitcoin to reach $250,000 by the end of 2025. Hayes had previously told news reporters that he is “unfazed” when predictions are wrong, seeing aggressive predicting as a necessary market involvement. Market watchers call out the irony in Hayes’ actions being contrary to his public leanings, highlighting the importance of monitoring on-chain behaviour rather than social media commentary from influential figures.
