Arthur Hayes is facing renewed public criticism after on-chain observers linked his fund, Maelstrom, to about $1.92 million in CARDS transfers days after he publicly promoted the project.
The posts and transfers raised fresh exit liquidity concerns. Hayes, the BitMEX co-founder, posted on X on June 23 that “$CARDS degens” had a “solid” thesis and said the token price was “pamping.” Meanwhile, Maelstrom’s X account shared a project link.
On-Chain Reports Trigger Backlash
Four days after Hayes’ post, analytics account SolanaFloor reported on X that Hayes had placed a $4 price target on CARDS while the token traded near $0.30. SolanaFloor also said Maelstrom sent $1.92 million worth of CARDS to market maker Flowdesk the next day, adding that the transfer was “likely for selling.”
The report drew criticism across Crypto Twitter. At the time of SolanaFloor’s post, CARDS traded near $0.23, about 23% below the level seen when Hayes endorsed it. The token later traded around $0.24.
On-chain analyst Ericonomic also highlighted the timeline on X. He said Hayes “shilled $CARDS 4 days ago” and that three days later an address sold “his entire stack through Fireblocks.” Ericonomic added that the wallet had not been publicly disclosed by Hayes, and the link was based on timing and token patterns.
ZachXBT Earlier Questioned Token Sales
The latest criticism follows earlier allegations raised by blockchain investigator ZachXBT. On June 6, Cryptopolitan reported that ZachXBT confronted Hayes over a similar cycle involving HYPE, NEAR, ZEC, and WLD.
According to ZachXBT, Hayes publicly endorsed the tokens before closing related positions within two weeks. Hayes called HYPE, ZEC, and NEAR the “Holy Trinity” on May 22. He later sold HYPE and NEAR by June 4 and dumped ZEC on June 5 after citing an exploit in its Orchard Pool. He also closed his WLD position the next day, less than 24 hours after describing Worldcoin as a SpaceX IPO play.
Hayes has not responded to CARDS’ claims
ZachXBT asked Hayes how much exit liquidity his followers had absorbed. Hayes replied that he “sold to a willing seller at a price” and “happened to call it right this time.”
ZachXBT has also flagged similar concerns around RAVE, SIREN, and LAB tokens. In a May 14 LAB investigation, he said insiders allegedly controlled over 95% of the supply while the project reached a fully diluted valuation above $6 billion. He described it as “everything wrong with the current meta of retail extraction on major centralized exchanges.”
Hayes has not publicly responded to the latest CARDS allegations. The alleged link between Maelstrom’s wallet and Flowdesk transfers has not been independently confirmed beyond reports cited by SolanaFloor and other accounts.
