HYPE Drops Below $50 as Unlock Fears Intensify

As competition intensifies in the perpetuals trading sector, investors are starting to feel the pressure of the upcoming HYPE unlocks in November.

Hyperliquid’s core contributor unlocks are set to begin on Nov. 30, with a total of 237 million HYPE, worth roughly $11 billion at current prices, becoming liquid between Nov. 30, 2025 and Nov. 30, 2027.

While there has been plenty of speculation over how the team would go about exiting their position, or if they plan to do so at all, investors are bracing for impact. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes recently sold all of his HYPE, despite recently calling for the asset to rally more than a hundred-fold over the next three years.

Hayes’ family office fund, Maelstrom, addressed the sale today, reiterating that HYPE digital asset treasuries (DATs) and Assistance Fund (AF) buybacks cannot offset the team’s token unlocks, and citing increased competition from the likes of Lighter and Aster.

Tokenomics Proposal

Also today, Jon Charbonneau and Hasu publicly posted an article on X, proposing a short-term 45% reduction in the HYPE supply while removing the total supply cap.

Charbonneau, of crypto investment firm DBA, and Hasu from Steakhouse Financial collaborated on their article, claiming that Hyperliquid has too much authorized non-outstanding supply, meaning the supply overhang is too large compared to the market capitalization, and puts the token at a disadvantage in terms of market interpretation.

“Given HYPE’s current supply dynamics, it’s one of the most unfairly penalized tokens on the market today. It stands to benefit heavily from remedying this,” the proposal reads.

Specifically, they propose to remove the maximum supply cap of $1 billion HYPE, revoke authorization for the unminted HYPE set aside for future emissions and community rewards (FECR), and burn all the HYPE that has been repurchased by the AF.

The proposal claims to “increase legibility” of the protocol’s economics for both current community members and future investors.

The article encountered initial pushback, primarily from those who interpreted the proposal as eliminating future community incentives. Charbonneau was quick to point out that the design doesn’t necessarily reduce community incentives but simply takes them off the books in the short term to “make them more effective.”

The HYPE token had a rough weekend and is down 20% from its all-time high of $59 that it hit just five days ago.