[Feature] Twitter Harassment: Arthur Hayes Hit with Restraining Order by Su Zhu

You probably would have heard of the saying, "Kick a man when he is down." In the aftermath of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital's (3AC) demise, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, seemingly retreated from the public eye until resurfacing in July with an interview conducted by Bloomberg, which Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, scornfully mocked on Twitter. He even accompanied his tweet with a link to the Bloomberg piece. He went on to highlight several excerpts in the feature and ridiculed each one.

During the interview, Su Zhu and Kyle, 3AC's co-founders, expressed regret over the fund's failure. However, their recent efforts to raise funds for their new platform, OPNX, have faced criticism from Arthur, who has naturally, taken to Twitter to voice his disapproval.

On 6 April, Arthur claimed to have heard rumours of Su Zhu and Kyle securing significant investments from a sovereign wealth fund in Bahrain, adding an expletive-laden demand for his own financial restitution.

He also targeted, in a way, the CEO of OPNX, Leslie Lamb.

It seemed like Arthur cannot even leave poor Kyle alone when the latter expressed on Twitter that it is important to find inspiration in unlikely places, and it is oysters for him.

It is no surprise that in an intriguing legal development, that Su Zhu has successfully obtained a restraining order against Arthur, from a court in Singapore. The order, issued on 5 May and exclusively obtained by CoinDesk, places restrictions on Hayes, prohibiting him from employing "threatening, abusive or insulting language" or engaging in any form of communication that could cause Su Zhu distress, alarm, or harassment.

In Hayes' last few tweets targeting Su Zhu and Kyle, it can be seen he was demanding a sum of $6 million that he claims is owed to him following the fund's collapse last year.

The restraining order, authorised by Harassment Court Judge Sandra Looi Ai Lin, explicitly prevents Arthur from communicating with Su Zhu "through any means" and prohibits him from disclosing any personal information. Notably, the court ruling permits the order to be served to Hayes via his Twitter account, as stated within the document.

CoinDesk.tv did point out that there is a possibility that Su Zhu did file the restraining order as a public relations (PR) stunt for OPNX. When everything was only happening on Twitter, the exposure was low. But when the law comes in, then things will get blown up, which equates to more people knowing. Is it a PR stunt or was the restraining order obtained out of desperation to get Hayes off their backs?

Either way, both Su Zhu and Arthur have become figures of controversy within the cryptocurrency industry. Su Zhu gained notoriety due to the repercussions caused by the collapse of 3AC, while Arthur managed to evade imprisonment and instead received a six-month home detention sentence after pleading guilty last February to the United States (US) federal charges related to his failure to implement anti-money laundering (AML) checks on his exchange. As for 3AC, they are currently facing claims totaling over $1 billion from various individuals.

This ongoing legal battle raises questions about account accountability and financial obligations within the ecosystem. As this saga unfolds, the fate of Su Zhu's OPNX platform and Arthur's ventures remains uncertain. As observers, we can only await the next chapter in this compelling narrative.