Hyperliquid: Ex-employee behind flagged HYPE shorting wallet
Decentralized perpetuals exchange Hyperliquid said a wallet suspected by community members of shorting HYPE (HYPE) is controlled by a former employee who left the company in early 2024.
Co-founder Iliensinc told users on Hyperliquid’s Discord channel on Monday that the flagged address, 0x7ae4…1028, belongs to an ex-employee terminated in the first quarter of 2024, adding that the individual’s actions do not represent Hyperliquid Labs’ standards or values.
The statement followed claims weeks earlier from community member cobe.hype, who alleged the address was “one of the Hyperliquid team wallets” and sold roughly 4,000 HYPE tokens ($134,000) in a single day in November.
Employees and contractors subject to “strict ethical standards”
In the Discord message, Iliensinc said Hyperliquid Labs enforces a strict trading policy to ensure accountability across the organization. The co-founder noted that all employees and contractors are held to strict ethical requirements regarding the HYPE token.
According to Iliensinc, Hyperliquid prohibits staff and contractors from trading HYPE derivatives, including taking long or short positions. The co-founder added that trading based on “material non-public information” is “fundamentally prohibited,” and that sharing such information with third parties is also restricted.
HYPE called the cycle’s “best story” by Arthur Hayes, despite a 24% decline this year
Founded in late 2022, Hyperliquid has grown to a leading share of the perp DEX market. The platform processed at least $653 billion in trading volume in Q2, 2025, representing roughly 73% of perp DEX activity, according to CoinGecko.
Arthur Hayes, BitMEX co-founder, recently described Hyperliquid as the “best story” of the current cycle. He noted that HYPE launched at “two or three bucks” in November 2024 before “ripping all the way to $60.”
HYPE has seen significant volatility in 2025, reaching an all-time high near $60 in mid-September before subsequent declines. At press time, HYPE was trading at $25.40, down about 24% over the past year but up roughly 290% since launch, according to CoinGecko.
