BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes is reported to have repurchased 33,978 HYPE tokens, valued at approximately $2.09 million, according to blockchain tracker Lookonchain. The platform linked the purchase to a wallet associated with Hayes, which withdrew the tokens from Bybit during Asian trading hours on Monday.
The reported buyback comes just four days after Hayes stated he had sold his entire HYPE position to lock in gains while the token traded above $72.
Arthur Hayes Faces New Questions
Following the blockchain update, HYPE briefly rose by around 2%. Hayes has denied the purchase in response to Lookonchain’s report. His response on social media was blunt: “I didn’t buy s**t.”
After Hayes announced his exit, HYPE momentarily fell to $54. The token later recovered and was trading above $61 at the time of reporting.
Since its 2023 launch, Hyperliquid has established itself as a leading derivatives platform in the crypto market, and Hayes has been one of its most visible supporters. His earlier sale drew strong criticism from parts of the crypto community. Some users accused him of promoting HYPE publicly before selling, calling the behavior irresponsible and warning that traders who mimicked his moves suffered losses. Critics described the situation as retail investors becoming “exit liquidity” for larger players.
The backlash continued after the recent blockchain activity. Some commentators alleged a pattern of profiting at the expense of smaller traders, accusing Hayes of a “buy in secret, pump in public, dump in public” approach and asserting it manipulated less experienced investors.
Mystery Wallet Doubles Down on HYPE
Despite the controversy around Hayes, Lookonchain also reported strong ongoing interest in HYPE from another source. The tracker said a newly created wallet withdrew 82,089 HYPE tokens—worth roughly $5.16 million—from exchanges on Monday.
Over the past week, that same wallet moved a total of 1.14 million HYPE tokens, valued at about $79.22 million, off exchanges and deposited them into Hyperliquid for staking.
Hyperliquid’s token performance has drawn wider attention: this month, HYPE entered the top 10 crypto assets by market capitalization after surpassing Dogecoin. It became the first DeFi protocol since Uniswap in 2021 to reach that milestone, highlighting significant growth and investor interest despite the debates around trading conduct and transparency.