Most Influential: Arthur Hayes

AI Summary3 min read

TL;DR

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and now CIO of Maelstrom, remains a highly influential crypto macro thinker. His social media blends sharp market analysis with provocative commentary, focusing on AI tokens, privacy tech, and geopolitical trends.

Key Takeaways

•Arthur Hayes transitioned from building BitMEX to becoming a leading crypto macro strategist and investor at Maelstrom.
•His influential social media presence combines detailed market analysis, AI token predictions, and provocative commentary.
•Hayes focuses on long-term themes like AI infrastructure, privacy technologies, and nation-state monetary experiments.
•He maintains relevance through consistent insights despite no longer running a major exchange.

Arthur Hayes has never been one to fade quietly into the background. After co-founding BitMEX and helping pioneer the modern crypto derivatives market, he has re-emerged in recent years as one of the industry’s most consistently influential macro thinkers. Now CIO of Maelstrom, Hayes has turned his attention from exchange-building to thesis-driven investing — with a sprinkle of social media trolling on top.

This feature is a part of CoinDesk's Most Influential 2025 list.

Few executives in crypto maintain a social presence as lively, chaotic and strangely insightful as Hayes’. His X feed swings between detailed macro commentary, sharp market calls, literary references and the occasional troll-like jab.

But beneath the theatrics lies a track record that traders increasingly pay attention to. Hayes was early to the rise of several AI-adjacent tokens — a sector that dominated speculative flows throughout 2024 and 2025 — and he openly championed Zcash ZEC$462.77, which went on to rally more than 450% over the past year.

At Maelstrom, he’s leaned even further into his role as provocateur-cum-strategist. Hayes blends long-term geopolitical analysis with short-term market instincts, often arguing that crypto’s next phase will be shaped by AI infrastructure, privacy-preserving technologies and the monetary experiments of nation-states. His essays, peppered with irreverence and dark humour, reinforce a persona that’s equal parts professor, trader and chaos agent.

In an industry that cycles through personalities at dizzying speed, Hayes remains unusually durable. He may no longer run a major exchange, but through Maelstrom — and his ever-spicy social commentary — he continues to be one of the most relevant voices in the industry.

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