Arthur Hayes, co-founder of derivatives exchange BitMEX, has sold his complete holdings in both Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Near Protocol (NEAR), citing the threat of a significant capital drain from the cryptocurrency market as a trio of high-profile artificial intelligence companies prepare for public listings.

Hayes disclosed the sales on Friday via social media, describing the move as a direct response to the anticipated market impact of initial public offerings from OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. He framed the decision as one driven by liquidity concerns, arguing that the sheer scale of capital likely to flow into those offerings could meaningfully reduce risk appetite and available investment in digital assets.

Market Reaction Swift and Pronounced

The disclosure triggered sharp immediate declines in both tokens. HYPE fell 8.4% to $65 while NEAR dropped 17.4% to $2.34 within a 24-hour window, according to TradingView data. Both tokens had already been under pressure before Hayes' announcement, as the broader crypto market absorbed ongoing turbulence stemming from Bitcoin's prolonged decline and fresh uncertainty surrounding smart contract security.

The sales mark a significant reversal in public positioning for Hayes, who had previously expressed strong conviction in both assets. He had set a price target of $150 for HYPE by August 2026 and had forecast that NEAR could rise 20 times in value before the end of 2027. His decision to exit both positions entirely and simultaneously underscores the degree to which the incoming IPO pipeline has altered his near-term market outlook.

A Converging Set of Pressures

Hayes also linked the decision to the broader erosion of confidence following the disclosure of a critical vulnerability in Zcash's Orchard shielded pool. Having held Zcash as part of what he described as a personal "Holy Trinity" of alternative crypto investments alongside HYPE and NEAR, he said the security flaw had left him with no choice but to liquidate the entire portfolio. The three assets, once held together as a concentrated conviction bet, have now all been unwound.

The timing of his decision coincides with growing industry debate over what the AI IPO wave means for digital assets. SpaceX filed an S-1 registration statement in May ahead of its anticipated June 12 listing, with investor demand already reported to have exceeded total share availability. The company is targeting a minimum valuation of $1.8 trillion, which would make it the largest IPO in history by a substantial margin.

Scale of the Upcoming IPO Pipeline

Beyond SpaceX, Anthropic has reportedly selected Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase to lead its own IPO, with a potential listing as early as October 2026. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is preparing a confidential IPO filing of its own and is expected to go public as early as September, according to reporting by Reuters in May.

Prediction market data from Polymarket shows that 74% of traders expect OpenAI to complete its IPO before December 31, 2026, though only 35% expect it to occur before the end of September. The combined fundraising ambitions of the three companies could collectively exceed $240 billion, a figure that has led multiple market observers to reassess the risk of capital rotation out of cryptocurrencies and into traditional equity markets.

Industry Divided on Liquidity Impact

Not all market participants share Hayes' level of concern. Research published by Yardeni Research argues that the AI IPOs are unlikely to absorb sufficient liquidity to materially damage the broader cryptocurrency market, pointing to strong retail demand and continued institutional accumulation as offsetting factors. Others have framed the AI sector and Bitcoin as increasingly complementary rather than competing assets.

Regardless of the contested outlook, the combination of Hayes' high-profile portfolio liquidation, a still-deteriorating Bitcoin price, and a record-setting IPO pipeline has injected a fresh layer of uncertainty into a market already navigating its most significant correction since early 2023. How crypto investors respond to the competing demands on capital in the months ahead will be closely watched by participants across both the digital asset and traditional financial markets.