Arthur Hayes Bets on Bitcoin and Ethereum After AI Hype
Hayes sees a later AI bailout as a possible source of extra liquidity, with Bitcoin and Ethereum as possible recipients. The comparison with 2020 puts the link between AI stocks, the Fed, and crypto in focus.
Key Takeaways
- Arthur Hayes is advising traders to go long Bitcoin and Ethereum instead of speculating on an immediate AI crash.
- Hayes expects a later AI bailout could bring in a lot of new money, which he says could be good for crypto.
- The discussion shows how tightly AI stocks, liquidity, and the crypto market are now tied together.
Arthur Hayes is calling on traders to go long Bitcoin and Ethereum instead of betting on an immediate AI crash. The BitMEX founder tied his message to a falling price chart of CoreWeave and said he would rather bet on what happens after a possible blowup than on the moment that blowup happens.
Hayes Looks to the Rescue
Hayes said he would not bet on AI, in either direction. In his view, big tech waves first run into overinvestment, then a crash, and eventually a rescue operation. He expects the AI data center boom to hit that wall around the end of 2027 or in 2028.
The core of his argument is that a later bailout could pump a lot of new money into the system. Hayes thinks governments would then print more money than they did after the 2008 financial crisis. According to him, that money has to go somewhere, and Bitcoin and other crypto could benefit from it.
Why Bitcoin and ETH Are in the Picture
Hayes points to earlier periods when loose monetary policy lined up with strong crypto performance. During the 2020 pandemic rescue, the Federal Reserve's balance sheet more than doubled, while Bitcoin climbed from below $5,000 (€4,470) to above $60,000 (€53,600). He uses that comparison to support his idea that extra liquidity eventually finds a home in crypto.
At the same time, that link has been less tight lately. The U.S. money supply hit a record in August, but Bitcoin is still trading about 35% below its October 2025 peak. Ethereum and other major crypto assets have also lagged behind many AI stocks this year.
What This Says About the Market
For European crypto followers, this debate shows how closely AI stocks and crypto are now getting tied together in the liquidity conversation. It is not just about whether AI stocks fall, but also about who ends up paying the bill when the sector cools off. Hayes puts Bitcoin and ETH in that scenario as a possible landing spot for new money, without saying anything certain yet about the timing or the outcome.
Not everyone agrees with his timeline. Fundstrat founder Tom Lee sees AI more as a 1997 story than a 1999 one and pushes a real bubble peak out to around 2033. Meanwhile, CoreWeave fell 15% a day after CNBC host Jim Cramer called the company his only trusted AI cloud pick. That move renewed concerns about debt in the AI sector. Earlier warnings from Hayes were also about the same idea: an AI bubble could eventually push extra liquidity toward Bitcoin.
