Arthur Hayes said he sold his Worldcoin (WLD) position on June 6, only days after publicly promoting the token, drawing accusations that he built exit liquidity for his own followers.
The reversal capped a week in which the BitMEX co-founder unwound four high-conviction altcoin bets. WLD traded near $0.46, down about 11% over 24 hours after a sharp weekly run.
Arthur Hayes Moves From Bullish Thread to Sudden Exit
Hayes announced the sale on X (Twitter) early Saturday, alongside a falling price chart.
“This chart is going in the wrong direction. Dumped $WLD. I’m out. See y’all at the clerb,” he said.
The timing fueled the anger. Days earlier, Hayes had urged followers to hold WLD through an expected SpaceX listing and framed it as a high-beta bet on artificial intelligence.
WLD had climbed roughly 55% over the prior week before the pullback.
Worldcoin, since rebranded World, is the iris-scanning identity project co-founded by OpenAI chief Sam Altman. Its token has drawn heavy retail interest, which critics say magnifies the impact of influential traders.
WLD still ranks near 51st by market value at roughly $1.55 billion. The single-day drop trimmed about $190 million from that figure, even after the token gained around 55% over the prior seven days.
Critics Allege a Repeated Pattern
The backlash widened after crypto sleuth ZachXBT tied the WLD exit to earlier reversals.
“How much exit liquidity was created from your followers over the past couple days? First NEAR HYPE ZEC Now WLD,” wrote ZachXBT.
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Indeed, Hayes dumped his Hyperliquid stack and NEAR Protocol (NEAR) on June 4, days after a $150 HYPE price target and a public charity wager.
He exited Zcash (ZEC) next, then WLD, despite having kept holding Worldcoin as his last AI proxy.
“…no redemption for you [Arthur Hayes] ever… Just leave to some remote island and beg for forgiveness for 50 years and never show your face in this crypto-space ever again,” another user lashed.
Hayes carries a contested history. He pleaded guilty in 2022 to a Bank Secrecy Act violation tied to BitMEX and paid a $10 million fine. This history deepens the distrust behind the Worldcoin price manipulation claims now circulating.
In his defense, Arthur Hayes says he “sold to a willing buyer at a price, highlighting that he would have suffered the loss had prices moved higher.
“I just happened to call it right this time as it regards to my trading goals,” wrote Hayes.
Whether the episode reshapes how followers treat his calls, or simply fades like prior cycles, may become clear in the coming weeks.
“ZEC, NEAR, and WLD are back to where they were before his calls,” Lookonchain indicated.