Arthur Hayes sells HYPE and NEAR after $100k bet

Arthur Hayes, co‑founder of BitMEX, announced on X that he sold his entire holdings of Hyperliquid (HYPE) and NEAR Protocol (NEAR). The sale occurred days after he posted a $100,000 charitable wager on June 1 that HYPE would outperform every current top‑ten crypto in USD terms by year‑end.

Hayes outlined four reasons for the liquidation in his X post. He pointed to higher energy prices linked to the Iran war, an expected period of corporate inventory restocking, three large artificial intelligence initial public offerings before early Q3, and his expectation that President Donald Trump would turn against AI to aid Republican chances in midterm elections. He described the transactions as profit‑taking ahead of a market peak he expects between now and September.

In April, Hayes had accumulated more than 26,000 HYPE tokens, which he valued at roughly $1.1 million at the time. He previously set a $150 target for HYPE and used informal language to express strong optimism for NEAR, at one point saying it could go ‘for da moon.’

Hayes promised a fuller explanation next week and plans an essay titled The Reality Test. He also posted a bullish call on Worldcoin (WLD), advising holders to keep WLD through its upcoming listing and setting a $10 target. On X he wrote: ‘The SpaceX IPO is going to melt people’s faces off.’

Hyperliquid is the token for a trading and staking platform; NEAR Protocol is a layer‑one blockchain focused on developer tools and scalability. Hayes co‑founded the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX and is known for taking large, public positions in crypto assets.