Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes is facing growing criticism from the cryptocurrency community after a series of high profile token sales that appear to contradict his earlier bullish outlooks.
Over the past several months, Hayes publicly expressed strong confidence in a number of altcoins, including Worldcoin (WLD), Zcash (ZEC), Hyperliquid (HYPE), and NEAR Protocol (NEAR). However, he has since revealed that he exited most of these positions well before the ambitious price targets he previously discussed were achieved.
The discrepancy between his public commentary and trading activity has fueled accusations that he may have contributed to market hype before selling his holdings at favorable prices.
Hayes Exits WLD Despite Earlier Optimism
Just days ago, Hayes stated that he intended to hold his Worldcoin position at least through the first week of a potential SpaceX initial public offering. He suggested that investor enthusiasm surrounding Elon Musk’s involvement with both projects could drive significant gains.
That outlook changed dramatically after a sharp decline in SpaceX’s stock price during Friday’s broader market selloff. In a recent update, Hayes argued that the stock’s performance was moving in the wrong direction and announced that he had sold his WLD holdings.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT was among the first to challenge Hayes over the move, questioning how much “exit liquidity” may have been generated from followers who acted on his earlier comments. He also highlighted several other recent sales that followed bullish public statements.
One notable example involved ZEC. Hayes sold his position shortly after concerns emerged regarding a vulnerability in the Zcash codebase, despite reports that the issue had already been addressed. He had also previously exited positions in HYPE and NEAR after expressing confidence in their future performance.
Traders React to a Pattern of Selling
On chain analytics platform Lookonchain also drew attention to Hayes’ trading activity, noting that many of his exits occurred near local price highs.
Following the disclosure of these sales, several of the affected tokens experienced notable declines, erasing much of the momentum generated after Hayes’ optimistic forecasts. In many cases, prices returned to levels seen before his public endorsements.
The reaction on Crypto X was swift and largely negative. Critics accused Hayes of promoting assets shortly before selling them, arguing that retail traders may have been left holding positions after the hype faded.
Some users described the behavior as irresponsible, while others joked that traders who followed his calls had simply become victims of a larger and more experienced market participant.
Although there is no evidence of wrongdoing, the controversy has reignited debate about the influence of prominent crypto figures and the risks investors face when relying heavily on public personalities for trading decisions.#crypto#cryptonews https://coinsignals.net https://t.me/coinsignalpublic
