BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes publicly challenged former Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani on the X platform yesterday (August 8), proposing a unique charity bet.
Hayes stated:
Since you say HYPE is bad, let's make a bet. I bet that from February 10, 2026, 00:00 (UTC) to July 31, 2026, 00:00 (UTC), HYPE's price increase will surpass that of any Altcoin on CoinGecko with a market capitalization exceeding $1 billion (in USD). You can choose any coin you support as your opponent. The loser must donate $100,000 to a charity designated by the winner.
Samani harshly criticizes Hyperliquid, calling it "the epitome of everything worst in the crypto industry."
The catalyst for this bet came from a post Kyle Samani made on the X platform on February 8th. Samani stated, "Hyperliquid embodies many of the worst problems in the crypto industry. The founders fled their home country to build it. It openly facilitates crime and terrorism. The code is closed-source and permissioned (requiring access)."
It's worth noting that Samani officially left Multicoin Capital on February 5th, ending his nearly ten-year tenure as a co-founder, and currently serves as the chairman of the board of Forward Industries (FORD). According to on-chain data, Multicoin Capital had previously purchased over $40 million worth of HYPE tokens. Samani's public criticism of Hyperliquid just three days after his departure has attracted market attention.
The love-hate relationship between Hayes and HYPE
Arthur Hayes's attitude towards HYPE has been quite volatile. In August 2025, he boldly predicted that HYPE had "126 times the upside potential"; however, in September, he liquidated all his HYPE holdings, claiming he would use the approximately $823,000 he obtained to "buy a Ferrari." But by mid-January 2026, Hayes had bought back approximately $499,000 worth of HYPE, showing that his long-term bullish stance on the token remained unchanged.
HYPE has been performing exceptionally well recently.
From a fundamental perspective, Hyperliquid has been making frequent moves recently. The HIP-4 proposal plans to add prediction market functionality to the platform, which initially drove HYPE up by 10%. Furthermore, Ripple Prime announced its integration with Hyperliquid, providing institutional clients with a decentralized perpetual contract trading channel.
As of now, HYPE has risen approximately 20% in the past week and 25% in the past month, consistently trading within the $32-$33 range, maintaining a bullish trend. In this public bet between Hayes and Samani, the market will closely watch whether HYPE can truly outperform all major Altcoin by market capitalization over the next six months.
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