Hayes Sells HYPE Amid Whale Buying, Huge Unlock Looms

BitMEX co‑founder Arthur Hayes sold his entire HYPE holding (~96,628 tokens) for about $5.1 million, saying the proceeds were for a Ferrari deposit and realizing an estimated $823,000 (≈19% gain) while framing the move as personal risk management even as he remains bullish on HYPE’s long‑term potential. Around the same time a whale (address 0xAD83D) withdrew 10.19M USDC from HLP vaults and deployed ~5M USDC to buy ~114,872 HYPE — leaving roughly 9.85M USDC available and signaling notable accumulation. The trades come ahead of a vesting event set to begin Nov. 29 that will release 237.8M HYPE over 24 months, which could amount to roughly $500M/month at $50 per token and materially increase sellable supply. Projected buybacks are expected to absorb only about 17% of that unlocked supply, creating substantial potential selling pressure. HYPE has run roughly +660% since launch and hit record trading volumes but has pulled back from recent highs amid growing competition from new perpetual DEXs. Market participants should watch whale flows, the Nov. 29 unlock schedule, buyback capacity, and competitor adoption as the main catalysts determining whether recent accumulation leads to sustained gains or prolonged downward pressure.