How Arthur Hayes Turned $0 Into $500 Million In 6 Years And Predicted Bitcoin's Dump To $76,000

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and one of crypto's most influential voices, has become a case study in how deep macro knowledge and on-chain strategy can lead to massive wealth in volatile markets.

What Happened: In a recent thread, on-chain analyst DeFiTracer traced Hayes' journey from getting fired in 2013 from an ETF trading desk to becoming a billionaire by pioneering 100x leveraged crypto trading.

After surviving the Mt. Gox collapse, Hayes co-founded BitMEX with British mathematician Ben Delo, launching the first crypto derivatives exchange of its kind.

Despite legal troubles in 2019 that led to charges related to BitMEX operations, Hayes was later pardoned by President Trump and now enjoys financial freedom having amassed a half-billion-dollar crypto fortune.

The Market Wizard

Hayes not only rode the waves of crypto’s rise, but he's consistently called major macro moves. He predicted the recent Bitcoin BTC/USD dump to $76,000 and even warned about tariff escalations before they happened.

Now, Hayes is accumulating Bitcoin again.

He believes Ethereum ETH/USD is the most contrarian bet right now due to market apathy, while Solana's recent surge was meme-fueled and unsustainable.

He also dismissed the idea of governments buying Bitcoin anytime soon, arguing that deficit-heavy nations simply can't justify it when they're under pressure to fund social programs.

Also Read: Raoul Pal Says Crypto Market Nowhere Near COVID-19 ‘Peak Fear’

Why It Matters: Hayes believes we're entering an era of fiscal dominance, where money printing becomes the only solution for central banks. In that environment, Bitcoin and fold decouple from traditional assets and become major beneficiaries of global liquidity expansion.

And as he gradually adds to his Bitcoin stack, he's betting that the next rally will be fuelled by central banks — not retail hype.

In a post on April 8, Hayes floated the idea that if the Federal Reserve doesn’t spark the next Bitcoin rally, China's central bank might.

A sharp yuan devaluation, he argues, could trigger another wave of capital flight into crypto — just like it did in 2013 and 2015. That narrative, he says, shouldn't be underestimated heading into 2025.

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