Overview
- Hayes outlined a bet running 00:00 UTC Feb. 10 to 00:00 UTC July 31, 2026 in which HYPE must beat any CoinGecko‑listed altcoin over $1 billion in market cap that Samani selects, with the loser donating $100,000 to a charity chosen by the winner.
- As of Feb. 9, Samani had not publicly accepted the challenge.
- On-chain data shows Hayes bought 57,881 HYPE in early February for about $1.91 million, lifting his holdings to roughly 131,807 tokens valued near $4.3 million at the time.
- Wallets linked to Multicoin were reported to have swapped more than 87,100 ETH for about 1.35 million HYPE via intermediaries such as Galaxy Digital in late January, as Samani moved into an advisory role at the firm.
- Samani has criticized Hyperliquid over code transparency and token distribution and alleged it enables criminal activity, while analyst Jon Charbonneau’s praise of the platform’s execution renewed debate over whether on-chain derivatives can rival venues like CME.