Blockchain investigator ZachXBT summoned BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes on June 6 for publicly dumping the tokens he promoted.
He wondered how much “exit liquidity” Hayes’ followers absorbed in the process.
This comes after Hayes exited positions in NEAR, HYPE, ZEC and WLD within two weeks, following each public endorsement sale that brought retail attention to the tokens.
> Promote a WLD position that you claim is very bullish several times with targets well above the current price
> Exit the WLD position shortly after
????
– ZackXPT (@ZackXPT) June 6, 2026
What tokens did Hayes sell after the promotion?
On May 22, Hayes named Hyperliquid’s HYPE tokens, Zcash’s ZEC, and NEAR Protocol’s NEAR tokens “Holy Trinity“And open bullish positions on them.
By June 4, he had sold his house COMPLETE HYPE AND NEAR COLLECTIBLESposted on X that an upcoming article titled “Reality Test” will explain why.
He cited rising energy prices due to the Iran conflict, three “massive AI IPOs,” and a prediction that Trump would pivot against AI before the midterms as reasons for his action.
And after one day, Hayes gave up his position at ZECciting the Orchard Pool exploitation as the catalyst.
He stated that “privacy from AI, government, and the grand tech narrative demands perfection” and that the exploit, while unlikely to have enabled the minting of tokens, could not “formally prove the impossibility of encryption.” At that point, he said he still held WLD.
However, this wait lasted less than 24 hours.
On June 4, Hayes framed Worldcoin As a bet on SpaceX’s upcoming Nasdaq listing, he wrote that the IPO would “melt people’s faces off.”
By June 6, he had also sold the WLD position, writing that “this chart is going in the wrong direction.”
How did ZachXBT challenge Hayes?
Share ZachXBT Highlight all four exits. The blockchain investigator asked Hayes a question, asking him: “How much exit liquidity has been generated from your followers over the past two days?” And list the tokens in order: “First NEAR HYPE ZEC / Now WLD.”
“I sold to a willing seller at a price,” Hayes responded to ZachXBT. He added: “The prices might be higher and then I would be called a fool. I just happened to describe it correctly this time in terms of my trading goals.”
Could Hayes face more backlash?
The dispute occurs at a time when influencer trading remains one of the most controversial crypto dynamics. Hayes has a large following. His HYPE/NEAR post alone has received more than 3,300 likes and 536 quote tweets, and his endorsements carry enough weight to stir hash sentiment.
The pattern identified by ZachXBT is specific: a general promotion generates buying interest, and the promoter exits that demand.
Each individual trade came with its own justification, from macro concerns to exploiting risks to charting vulnerabilities. Over the course of 15 days, the cumulative effect is what ZachXBT describes as followers absorbing the downside.
WLD was trading at $0.42 as of June 6, according to CoinMarketCap dataDown more than 96% from its all-time high of $11.82 set in March 2024.
Hayes has previously built in and out of public positions, including a long-term bullish position on ZEC. A Cryptopolitan Report From May, Hayes noted that Hayes had set a price target for ZEC of 10% of Bitcoin’s value, which at the time meant a price of over $8,000, roughly 14 times ZEC’s trading price.
The “reality check” article promised by Hayes as an explanation for the exits of HYPE and NEAR has not yet been published. Observers will be looking to see if he addresses the full four-token sequence, and the questions raised by ZachXBT.
