Arthur Hayes, co-founder of crypto exchange BitMEX and chief investment officer of family office Maelstrom, said on June 6 that the firm had sold its entire Worldcoin stake, one day after he publicly defended holding the token. WLD fell about 10% in the hours around his announcement and extended losses to as much as 28% by June 7, trading near $0.40 against a recent high above $0.56. Hayes posted a chart of sliding SpaceX pre-listing shares with the caption: “This chart is going in the wrong direction. Dumped $WLD. I’m out. See y’all at the clerb.”
Worldcoin is the digital token tied to Sam Altman’s eye-scanning identity project, and it trades around the clock as a liquid proxy for the artificial intelligence theme. Hayes had treated it as a fast way to bet on a strong SpaceX market debut.
Key takeaways
- Maelstrom sold its full Worldcoin position on June 6, a day after Hayes said the fund would keep holding it.
- WLD dropped roughly 10% on the news and fell as much as 28% to about $0.40 by June 7, with traders watching $0.35 as support.
- Hayes blamed a more than 50% slide in SpaceX pre-listing shares on Hyperliquid, breaking the AI-trade logic behind the position.
- On-chain investigator ZachXBT accused Hayes of turning followers into “exit liquidity” across four tokens in about 15 days.
Published: June 7, 2026, 16:00 UTC
What triggered the sale
Hayes had outlined a bullish case for WLD on June 3 and reiterated it on June 4, framing the token as a stand-in for an expected wave of AI initial public offerings. The central trade was SpaceX, which lists on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX on June 12. Hayes wanted exposure to a strong debut, and Worldcoin offered a liquid way to get it before the shares began trading.
That logic broke when SpaceX pre-listing quotes fell more than 50% in a few days on Hyperliquid, the venue where private-market shares change hands ahead of the listing. With the proxy’s underlying bet weakening, Hayes exited. The sale also fit a wider pattern of risk reduction across speculative assets during a sharp market downturn that pushed bitcoin below $60,000 over the weekend.
A week of exits
Worldcoin was the last of four positions Hayes closed in roughly two days. On June 4 he sold his full Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Near (NEAR) holdings. On June 5 he exited Zcash after a vulnerability in its Orchard shielded pool became public, writing that a privacy coin “demands perfection.” That Zcash bug and the emergency response ended what Hayes had called his “Holy Trinity” of HYPE, NEAR, and ZEC.
In a macro note explaining the moves, Hayes cited higher energy prices tied to the Iran conflict, three AI IPOs expected before early in the third quarter, and a risk that President Trump could adopt an anti-AI stance ahead of the midterm elections. He presented those as reasons to cut exposure to AI-linked and speculative tokens.
The exit-liquidity charge
The speed of the reversal drew a public rebuke. On-chain investigator ZachXBT argued in a series of June 6 posts that Hayes had repeatedly published bullish calls, drawn buyers in, and then sold, turning his audience into exit liquidity across ZEC, NEAR, HYPE, and WLD. Exit liquidity is the term for later buyers whose purchases let a larger holder offload a position without crashing the price.
Hayes pushed back, writing that he “sold to a willing seller at a price” and that the market could just as easily have moved higher. The dispute matters because Hayes is a market-moving voice whose calls shape trader behavior even when they do not directly move prices.
What it means for WLD
Worldcoin had outrun the market before the exit. Analyst Stacy Muur noted on June 5 that WLD had gained about 68% over roughly three weeks while the broader crypto market fell close to 10%, attributing part of that gap to Hayes and Maelstrom. The open question now is whether that premium holds without Hayes as a public backer. Traders are watching the $0.35 level, and a clean break below it would erase most of the token’s recent rally. The episode lands during a brutal stretch for altcoins, with the weekend liquidation wave already wiping out leveraged positions across the market.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Arthur Hayes sell his Worldcoin position?
Hayes held WLD as a liquid proxy for a strong SpaceX market debut. When SpaceX pre-listing shares dropped more than 50% on Hyperliquid in a few days, the AI-trade logic behind the position broke, and he sold Maelstrom’s entire stake on June 6.
How far did WLD fall after the announcement?
Worldcoin slid about 10% in the hours around Hayes’ post and extended the drop to as much as 28% by June 7, trading near $0.40 from a recent high above $0.56. Traders are watching $0.35 as the next support level.
What is the “exit liquidity” accusation against Hayes?
ZachXBT claimed Hayes published bullish calls on ZEC, NEAR, HYPE, and WLD, drew buyers in, then sold, leaving followers as the buyers who absorbed his exits. Hayes denied wrongdoing, saying he “sold to a willing seller at a price.”
Sources: CoinDesk, crypto.news, Bitcoin.com News, Arthur Hayes on X.
