Large cryptocurrency investors, known as whales, are cashing out of Hyperliquid’s native token amidst rising concerns over an upcoming vesting schedule that could release approximately $11 billion worth of supply.
Whale wallet “0x316f” withdrew $122 million worth of Hyperliquid (HYPE) tokens on Monday, purchasing them at around $12 per token.
This whale realized about $90 million in unrealized profits after holding the tokens for nine months and is likely “selling for profit,” according to data from blockchain platform Lookonchain.
The selling activity follows the HYPE token’s rise to a new all-time high of $59.29 on Thursday, but it faces a significant challenge in November when team tokens start vesting.
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According to the Hyper Foundation, 23.8% of the total supply allocated to core contributors will begin unlocking on Nov. 29, one year after the project’s genesis event.
The vesting schedule will distribute roughly $11.9 billion HYPE tokens over 24 months for the team, which could represent the “first true test” for the token’s resilience, according to BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes’ family office fund, Maelstrom, said on Monday.
In what it termed a “Sword of Damocles” moment, this will introduce around $500 million worth of monthly unlocks, with only about 17% expected to be absorbed by buybacks, leading to an estimated $410 million in potential supply overhang, according to Maelstrom researcher Lukas Ruppert.
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Hayes sells HYPE stash for Ferrari ahead of vesting schedule
Maelstrom’s research surfaced shortly after Hayes liquidated his entire HYPE token holdings, which he reportedly used as a deposit for a new Ferrari, Cointelegraph noted earlier on Monday.
“Need to pay my deposit on the new Rari 849 Testarossa,” Hayes stated on Sept. 21.
Other whales seem to be migrating to Hyperliquid’s emerging competitor, Aster, a decentralized perpetuals exchange associated with Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao.
On Monday, whale address “0x220” acquired $10.5 million worth of Aster tokens across two wallets and is currently sitting on over $6 million in unrealized profit, Lookonchain mentioned in a Monday X post.
Over the past week, Aster’s token surged by more than 1,700%, making it the fourth-largest DEX token in the industry with a market capitalization of $2.5 billion.
In contrast, the HYPE token decreased by 7.9% during the same timeframe, trading at $49.34 at the time of writing, per data from CoinMarketCap.
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