Crypto investor Arthur Hayes doubts Trump will succeed in creating a Bitcoin reserve

Arthur Hayes, chief investment officer of cryptocurrency venture capital firm Maelstrom, says he doubts Donald Trump’s administration will succeed in creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve, a policy many crypto enthusiasts are basing their hopes.

“I don’t think Trump will succeed in creating a bitcoin reserve,” Hayes, co-founder and former CEO of BitMex, said in an interview. “Ultimately, I don’t know how borrowing money to buy bitcoin helps on any of Trump’s platforms.”

Trump certainly sees the benefits that crypto can bring him, having launched a few lucrative coins (cryptographic tokens with no use other than being volatile speculative instruments) before his inauguration. For die-hard Bitcoin supporters, a US strategic reserve held in BTC would be something of an apotheosis for the most valuable token.

Hayes said, “I hope I’m wrong” regarding the implementation of a BTC reserve. But he noted the limited time before the midterm elections, which could constrain the ability to implement substantial policy changes, as well as the fact that there are many other things to devote time and effort to. ‘money.

“You have so much borrowing capacity before you destroy the bond market. Are you going to borrow money to buy Bitcoin? Will you borrow money to provide health care for the elderly people who elected you, or to make more bombs so the defense lobby will like you? Hayes said.

“There are a lot of different things you can borrow money on and spend it on. I just don’t think he’s going to spend it on Bitcoin. Although the Bitcoin brothers are as big as they think, there are many other interested parties who want this borrowed money into their pockets,” he added.

Hayes could be described as a non-conformist. The playful irreverence when it comes to investing through his new Maelstrom fund – “We love undervalued shits” (shitcoins) – is underpinned by insightful knowledge of macroeconomics, with a particular pessimism about how governments erode the wealth of ordinary people.

Maelstrom primarily writes checks in the range of $50,000 to $100,000 at the seed stage of crypto projects and acquires tokens rather than equity; Recent successes include investment in Ethena Labs, the stablecoin project.

Speaking about Maelstrom’s investment thesis, Hayes said: “Let’s not be under any illusions, this is pure speculation. Most of these things will be zeros. And so I don’t want to dress it up with some sort of haughty language. We speculate.