Arthur Hayes, Chief Investment Officer at Maelstrom and co-founder of BitMex, sold 96,600 hyperliquid (hype) tokens for around $ 5.1 million, less than three weeks after his bullish prediction about the asset.
On weekends, report It emerged that the crypto entrepreneur sold his entire stock of the native token of the decentralized exchange platform and concerned his position on the protocol.
Hayes initially said The sale is done to finance the purchase of a Ferrari. However, Maelstrom later clarified that the decision was rooted in risk management instead of luxurious expenses.
Why Hayes Hyperliquid sold
In a statement of 22 September on X, Maelstrom pointed to the structural challenges of Hype, in particular the upcoming token -release schedule, as an important factor that could influence the price performance.
According to Maelstrom, Hyperliquid is confronted with a “Damocles Sword” moment that starts on November 29, when 237.8 million tokens will start linearly in 24 months. For an average price of $ 50, which is $ 11.9 billion in potential delivery, or around $ 500 million in tokens that are released monthly.
The Fund calculated that the Hyperliquid return mechanism can only absorb approximately 17% of this issue, so that about $ 410 million in tokens is exposed to open-market sales every month.
Moreover, the Crypto Fund noted that the demand from digital asset treatment companies such as Sonnet may not be sufficient to save hyperliquid, because their purchases would “only have been a decrease in the bucket compared to threatening hype avoidings.”

Moreover, the company added that hype developers will probably sell parts of their allocations as soon as the fortress starts.
According to Maelstrom:
“Put yourself in the shoes of a hyperliquid dev. You have worked incredibly hard for years. A life -changing sum in tokens starts Tevest; and it is only one click removed. What would you do?”
Rising competition
In addition to the token economy, Maelstrom argued that Hyperliquid is now being confronted with stronger rivals in the eternal Dex Arena of lighter and binance-supported aster.
In the past week, the new platform enjoyed considerable support from Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and has various unique functions such as hidden orders and multichain support.
As a result, Aster has emerged as a favorite of the crypto industry, with his DEX volume that of Hyperliquid turns over in the last 24 hours.
Given this, Maelstrom stated:
“You do not eat the lunch of the crypto-etblissement and run undisputed. Affairs are war, and the half-life of most crypto products has been historically short-winners attract a swarm of vampire attacks.”
In the meantime, Hayes has not completely left his bullish attitude as he maintain That hype could still achieve a profit of 128x by 2028.