Despite issuing bullish forecasts for several prominent altcoins in recent months — including WLD, ZEC, HYPE, and NEAR — Arthur Hayes has revealed that he sold nearly all of his positions well before his targets were reached.
That disclosure sparked considerable backlash from the crypto community, with critics accusing him of hyping assets to attract buyers and then selling into the resulting demand at higher prices.
Hayes Continues Selling, This Time WLD
Just days earlier, Hayes had said he would hold WLD at least through the first week of SpaceX’s IPO, arguing that both projects shared Elon Musk as a key influence and predicting the listing would “melt people’s faces off.”
However, a few hours ago he reversed course after sharing a chart showing SpaceX shares collapsing on Friday amid a wider market downturn. He cited the stock’s poor direction as the reason he chose to liquidate his WLD holdings.
On-chain investigator ZachXBT was among the first to criticize Hayes’ moves, asking how much “exit liquidity” Hayes’ followers provided over the past days and pointing to Hayes’ prior large-scale sales.
As reported yesterday, the BitMEX co-founder sold his ZEC position after developers disclosed a Zcash code vulnerability that had already been patched by the time he exited. He had previously sold HYPE and NEAR as well, despite making optimistic price calls for both.
How much exit liquidity was created from your followers over the past couple days?
First NEAR HYPE ZEC
Now WLD pic.twitter.com/vyDXwCHRwO— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 6, 2026
Community Lashes Out
Analysts at Lookonchain also highlighted Hayes’ exits, particularly since his sales occurred near price peaks. All of the mentioned assets fell sharply in the hours after he announced his exits and have since returned to roughly the same levels they occupied before his bullish calls.
Arthur Hayes(@CryptoHayes) called $ZEC, $NEAR, and $WLD.
He sold near the top, then disclosed his exit and turned bearish.$ZEC, $NEAR, and $WLD are now back to where they were before his calls. pic.twitter.com/IlvCqTHe3r
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) June 6, 2026
Reaction on X (formerly Twitter) was harsh. Some replies labeled Hayes’ behavior a “douchebag” move for promoting an altcoin hours before selling it, while others suggested that traders who mirrored his actions were small operators who had been “scammed” by a larger one.