Arthur Hayes exits Worldcoin days after Maelstrom called it an AI IPO proxy

Maelstrom co-founder Arthur Hayes disclosed on Saturday that he sold his Worldcoin (WLD) holdings, just days after the venture capital firm published a research note pitching the token as a way to gain exposure to "AI mega IPOs." Posting to his 800,000 followers on X, Hayes shared a chart of the SpaceX pre-IPO perpetual futures contract that had fallen sharply and wrote, "This chart is going in the wrong direction. Dumped WLD. I'm out. See y'all at the clerb."

The sale marks a sharp reversal from Wednesday, when Maelstrom researcher Lukas Ruppert described WLD as an "overlooked" bet on the AI IPO theme and predicted the token would reach $5 by August. The note triggered a short-lived rally, with WLD topping $0.60 on Friday before pulling back to $0.40 on Sunday, according to CoinGecko data. Hayes had previously said on X that he intended to hold WLD through the SpaceX IPO on Nasdaq, which is expected this coming Friday, a timeline that drew criticism from observers pointing to the timing of his exit.

The WLD trade is the latest in a series of pivots by Hayes on assets he had previously endorsed. In March, he forecast that Hyperliquid (HYPE) would reach $150 by August and, on June 1, said it would "outperform any other top ten crypto in USD terms from now until year-end." Three days later he disclosed that he had sold his entire HYPE position, citing higher energy prices tied to the Iran war, "inventory restocking," and imminent "mega AI IPOs." He followed that with the sale of his Zcash (ZEC) on June 5 after a critical vulnerability was discovered in the token's privacy protocol, declaring that the "Holy Trinity" of HYPE, ZEC, and NEAR was "dead."

Hayes has since partially reversed course on at least one of those calls. A wallet linked to him bought back approximately 33,978 HYPE, worth around $2 million, on Monday after the token had fallen 26% in the wake of his June 4 sale, according to Arkham Intelligence data. Cointelegraph reached out to Maelstrom for comment but did not receive an immediate response.