After BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes publicly made bullish calls and then sold those tokens in succession, on-chain investigator ZachXBT criticised him head-on, questioning whether he used investors as “exit liquidity.”

On June 6, blockchain media outlet Cryptopolitan reported that ZachXBT took issue with Hayes’ recent two-week run of liquidations in positions in NEAR Protocol (NEAR), Hyperliquid (HYPE), Zcash (ZEC) and Worldcoin (WLD).

The dispute centres on the gap between Hayes’ public endorsements and his trading. On May 22, Hayes called Hyperliquid’s HYPE, Zcash’s ZEC and NEAR Protocol’s NEAR a “holy trinity” and took bullish positions. But on June 4 he sold all of his HYPE and NEAR holdings. He said on X, formerly Twitter, that he would explain the reasons in a “Reality Test” essay to be released soon.

Hayes cited a rise in energy prices due to the Iran conflict, 3 scheduled big-tech initial public offerings and expectations that U.S. President Donald Trump could oppose artificial intelligence ahead of the midterm elections as reasons for selling. While reasons were presented for each trade, market attention focused on the fact that public buy calls were followed by selling after drawing in demand from retail investors.

ZEC showed a similar pattern. Hayes said he exited his ZEC position on June 5, citing controversy over an Orchard Pool hack. “In the era of AI, governments and big tech, privacy narratives demand perfection,” he said. He added that while it was unlikely the vulnerability led to token issuance, it could not be officially proven to be cryptographically impossible.

The flashpoint that widened the criticism was WLD. On June 4, Hayes framed Worldcoin as a trade betting on expectations of a Nasdaq listing for SpaceX and voiced strong optimism. But he quickly exited his WLD position on June 6, explaining the sale by saying, “The chart is going the wrong way.” Even as he was exiting ZEC, he said he was still holding WLD, but that position did not last even 24 hours.

ZachXBT grouped the 4 sales together in his criticism. He asked Hayes how much exit liquidity had been created from investors in recent days and wrote, “First NEAR HYPE ZEC, now WLD.” The criticism was that Hayes may have spurred buying with public comments and then exited in response to that demand.

Hayes also pushed back immediately. “I only sold at a fair price to someone willing to buy,” he said, maintaining there was nothing wrong with the trades themselves. He added that if prices had risen further he would have been treated like a fool, and argued that this time his judgment simply matched his trading objectives.

The exchange again highlighted the impact that public selling by an influential figure can have on retail investor sentiment in the cryptocurrency market. Hayes has a substantial following, and his posts about liquidating HYPE and NEAR alone drew more than 3,300 likes and 536 quote posts. With his comments able to sway retail sentiment, the pattern ZachXBT pointed to is becoming a broader controversy rather than a simple stop-loss.

Market prices were also weak. WLD traded at $0.42 as of June 6, down more than 96 percent from its all-time high of $11.82 recorded in March 2024. Hayes has previously built and unwound positions publicly, and has shown a long-running bullish stance on ZEC in particular.

A key point to watch is whether Hayes will actually publish the “Reality Test” essay he previewed. The piece has not yet been released. The next issue is whether it will address only the background to the HYPE and NEAR sales, or also explain the overall flow across all 4 tokens including WLD and ZEC, as well as the exit-liquidity allegation raised by ZachXBT.

>Promote WLD position you claim to be super bullish on multiple times with targets significantly higher than current price >Exit WLD position shortly after ???