Arthur Hayes dumps HYPE, warns Wall Street will challenge perps

Arthur Hayes said he sold his entire HYPE position after warning that Wall Street firms and large centralized exchanges will enter the market for perpetual futures and compete with Hyperliquid.

Hayes made the comments in an interview and posted the sale on X the following day, citing expectations of higher energy prices, a wave of large IPOs and a change in U.S. policy on artificial intelligence as reasons to take profits.

He criticized Hyperliquid’s token economics, noting the protocol uses trading fees to buy HYPE on the open market and permanently remove tokens from circulation. Hayes argued that mechanism depends on sustained trading volume and that any loss of market share could reduce buybacks and weaken the scarcity case for the token.

Hyperliquid launched in 2023 and offers perpetual futures tied to real-world assets such as oil, gold and silver. The platform reported about $3 billion in open interest for those markets. Onchain dashboards show Hyperliquid has repurchased roughly 26.6 million HYPE and permanently removed about 579,603 HYPE from circulation, with the larger buyback amount valued at about $1.56 billion at recent prices.

HYPE traded near $59 on Sunday after reaching an all-time high above $75 last week. The token fell about 14% over the prior seven days.

Hayes, who helped develop the modern perpetual futures contract at BitMEX, had published an essay weeks earlier predicting HYPE could reach $150 by August 2026. He said he expects traditional exchanges and large crypto platforms to launch similar perpetual-swap products and deliver meaningful liquidity within a year.

Executives at established exchanges are examining Hyperliquid’s 24/7 trading model. Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, told a conference his firm is studying the structure and discussing with regulators whether U.S. exchanges can offer comparable perpetual contracts under clear rules.

Hyperliquid expanded its derivatives lineup in October to add more real-world asset products. The platform’s growth has been associated with recent price swings in HYPE as open interest and trading activity changed.