TL;DR:
- Hayes liquidated his full positions in HYPE and NEAR, citing energy prices, AI IPOs, and the U.S. midterm elections.
- The BitMEX co-founder had described HYPE, NEAR, and ZEC as the “holy trinity” just days before announcing the sales.
- HYPE dropped 8.3% and NEAR plunged 17.8% in the last 24 hours after his exit became known.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and Chief Investment Officer at Maelstrom, announced that he fully liquidated his positions in Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Near Protocol (NEAR). His decision was based on a combination of macroeconomic factors that, according to Hayes, represent headwinds for risk assets in the coming months.
Among the reasons cited are elevated energy prices, attributed to the Middle East conflict and inventory restocking. Hayes also pointed to three major initial public offerings in the artificial intelligence sector that would be scheduled before the third quarter, which could absorb liquidity that would otherwise flow into cryptocurrencies. Without naming them directly, companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX are currently in the process of preparing their respective public market debuts.
I just dumped my entire $HYPE and $NEAR position, I will explain why in my essay "Reality Test" dropping next Tuesday.
TLDR:
– Higher energy prices due to Iran war and inventory restocking
– 3 Mega AI IPOs between now and early Q3
– Prediction that Trump goes anti-AI to win…— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) June 4, 2026
The BitMEX co-founder also anticipated that President Donald Trump will adopt an anti-artificial intelligence stance with the goal of securing votes for the Republican Party ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, a scenario that would directly affect NEAR, positioned as an “AI-native” blockchain.
Market Manipulation Accusations
The sale triggered a backlash on social media. Just days earlier, Hayes had reiterated his bullish outlook on both assets in an interview with The Rollup podcast, published on May 25, where he predicted that HYPE would go “much, much higher” and that NEAR had the potential to multiply twentyfold. On May 22, he had gone as far as describing HYPE, NEAR, and ZEC as the “holy trinity” of the market.
Numerous users on X accused Hayes of executing a pump-and-dump strategy, having publicly promoted the tokens and liquidated the positions just days later. The magnate did not respond directly to the criticism and announced that he will publish a detailed essay on June 9 explaining the rationale behind his decision.
