A16z-Linked Wallet Builds $192 Million HYPE Stake as Early Whale Cashes out $95 Million

Smart Money on Both Sides

A wallet that onchain analysts have linked to venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (A16z or A16z Crypto) has quietly turned into Hyperliquid’s most aggressive institutional buyer. The address has accumulated about 3.9 million HYPE worth roughly $192.6 million since April 14, at an average price near $49.40, according to blockchain tracker Lookonchain. It added another 226,121 tokens, about $14.5 million, in a single day this week.

The scale of the position has been climbing fast, with Bitcoin.com News reporting earlier this month that the same wallet cluster had stacked about $90.87 million in HYPE over roughly five weeks, a haul that already made it the sixth-largest external holder of the token. The pile has since more than doubled, pushing the buyer toward the top of Hyperliquid’s holder list as the token charged into record territory.

A16z has not publicly confirmed that the wallet is its own; the link rests on funding patterns mapped by onchain analysts rather than any statement from the firm. Even unconfirmed, the buying has fed a bullish narrative as reports reveal that deep-pocketed backers, alongside names such as Grayscale and Galaxy, have been piling into HYPE, helping power the token’s run to its all-time high of over $67.

An Early Whale Heads for the Exit

While the suspected A16z wallet accumulates, one of Hyperliquid’s earliest supporters is doing the opposite. A holder dating back to the network’s genesis began selling a 1.5 million HYPE position worth about $98.2 million today, a sale that locks in an estimated $95 million profit, data shows.

The whale’s cost basis was minimal. The address received 819,335 HYPE at the genesis distribution and later spent about $2.9 million to buy another 676,709 tokens at around $4.29 each, a fraction of current prices. In the latest move, it withdrew 500,000 HYPE worth roughly $33 million from Hyperliquid, the typical first step before tokens are sold.

The dichotomy matters because of who appears to be on each side. Venture firms such as A16z typically buy with multi-year horizons, and a position worth nearly $200 million signals a long-term thesis rather than a quick trade. Genesis-era whales, by contrast, can be price-insensitive sellers whose coins cost them almost nothing, meaning their supply can cap rallies even when demand is strong.

Hyperliquid’s fundamentals also help explain the appetite, given its HYPE token captured value from a fee stream that Grayscale recently estimated at around $800 million a year. Bitcoin.com News has also chronicled a steady churn of whales opening and unwinding large leveraged bets around the token, highlighting how concentrated and volatile its float remains.

Can Institutional Accumulation Absorb Sales From Early Holders

If wallets like the suspected A16z address keep buying through profit-taking, HYPE’s record near $67 may prove to be the beginning of something much larger. However, on the flipside, if Genesis sellers accelerate, the token could face a sharp drawdown.

For now, the onchain data tells a story of conviction meeting realization where big new money seems to be wagering on Hyperliquid’s future while the people who were there at the start are quietly banking their winnings.