Arthur Hayes reveals US$2.2M Synapse investment

• Arthur Hayes disclosed a US$2.2 million purchase of Synapse's SYN token after backing its Hypercall options exchange.
• SYN rose as much as 26% following the endorsement before giving back some gains as traders took profits.
• Hayes said he views Hypercall as a potential competitor to Deribit and a way to gain leveraged exposure to the Hyperliquid ecosystem.

Synapse (CRYPTO:SYN) climbed as much as 26% after BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes disclosed purchasing 6.16 million SYN tokens worth about US$2.2 million, saying the project's Hypercall options exchange could compete with Deribit.

The purchase followed Hayes' public endorsement of Hypercall, an options decentralised exchange built by the Synapse team and settled on Hyperliquid, as he said he was seeking a more asymmetric investment within the Hyperliquid ecosystem.

“It’s time for an options dex to properly take on Deribit. Hypercall, owned by SYN, is that challenger,” Hayes wrote on X.

Hayes also highlighted research from crypto investor Duncan, who argued SYN has an estimated fully diluted valuation of about US$81 million, around 88% of its token supply already in circulation, no venture capital unlock overhang and listings on exchanges including Binance and Kraken, while Duncan also said Hypercall could expand SYN's utility through token buybacks.

The token later gave back part of its gains as traders locked in profits, although it remained more than 1,100% higher over the past month, and as Synapse is a cryptocurrency there was no share price reaction.

Derivatives data showed SYN futures open interest fell 13% over four hours to US$31.98 million, with the largest declines recorded on Binance, Bitget and MEXC, suggesting traders closed positions after the rally.

The investment follows Hayes' recent sales of Worldcoin (CRYPTO:WLD), Zcash (CRYPTO:ZEC), NEAR Protocol (CRYPTO:NEAR), Hyperliquid (CRYPTO:HYPE) and Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) as he previously warned that higher energy prices, large artificial intelligence listings and political uncertainty could weigh on cryptocurrency markets.

At the time of reporing, Synapse price was $0.5134.