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Arthur Hayes, the former BitMEX CEO and current CIO of Maelstrom, called the Ethereum Foundation “a bunch of jokers” on the Unchained podcast, stating that his bullish thesis on Ether has nothing to do with the technology or its stewards. He framed the trade purely as a market positioning play, noting that Ether remains below its 2021 record high despite being the second-largest cryptocurrency. Hayes confirmed ETH is Maelstrom’s largest holding outside <a href="https://xpertsstudio.com/bitcoin-nears-us80000-amid-biggest-weekly-rally-in-three-years/” title=”Bitcoin nears US$80,000 amid biggest weekly rally in three years”>Bitcoin, citing its lower risk of going to zero. He said a break above $3,000 would trigger reflexive buying that could quickly push prices past $5,000. Hayes also discussed FLOP Labs, a new payments network for AI compute transactions with no presale or VC funding, and advised investors seeking Bitcoin exposure through equities to favor spot ETFs over Strategy shares.
Key Elements
Arthur Hayes, the former BitMEX CEO who now runs the family office Maelstrom, has a blunt message for the stewards of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency: he couldn’t care less about them. Speaking on the Unchained podcast hosted by crypto journalist Laura Shin, Hayes dismissed the Ethereum Foundation as “a bunch of jokers” while making clear that his bullish stance on Ether rests entirely on market positioning, not on the technology or the people building it.
“I don’t care about the technology. Has nothing to do. It’s all positioning in my view,” Hayes said in the episode published Saturday. When pressed on whether Ethereum’s strategic shift away from its Layer-2 roadmap and back toward the base layer had altered his thesis, he was unequivocal: it hadn’t.
The comments come as Ether trades around $2,400, still roughly 50% below its November 2021 record high near $4,900. For Hayes, that gap is precisely the point.
Positioning Over Fundamentals
Hayes framed his Ethereum trade as a structural bet rather than a fundamental one. He noted that Ether remains the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization yet has failed to eclipse its previous cycle peak, a dynamic he believes creates room for outsized gains relative to Bitcoin and other major tokens.
He also dismissed the economic relationship between Ethereum’s base layer and its Layer-2 networks, including gas fee revenue dynamics, as irrelevant to how markets currently price the asset. What matters more, in his view, is the macro backdrop: if Treasury and Federal Reserve policy forces a return to money printing and expanded liquidity, the position stands to benefit disproportionately.
“Ethereum’s gains this cycle have been relatively limited, so there’s still significant room for more upside,” Hayes said, according to a summary of his remarks.
Largest Position Outside Bitcoin
Hayes confirmed that Ether is Maelstrom’s largest holding outside of Bitcoin, adding that he is comfortable putting size on the trade because the risk of the asset going to zero is lower than for other cryptocurrencies.
“Right now, excluding Bitcoin, Ethereum makes up the largest portion of my portfolio. The risk of Ethereum’s value dropping to zero is much lower compared to other cryptocurrencies,” he said.
He outlined a clear price trigger: a break above $3,000 would set off reflexive buying, after which ETH could quickly clear $5,000. That would represent a more than 100% move from current levels.
The FLOP Labs Venture
Beyond his Ethereum positioning, Hayes discussed a separate venture called FLOP Labs, a payments network denominated in floating point operations. The thesis behind FLOP is that AI agents will eventually transact in whatever currency converts most directly into compute power.
Hayes said the project will have no presale and no venture capital investment. Tokens will be distributed through testnet activity in the fourth quarter or minedghly 20% of supply is earmarked for airdrops over 10 years, with halvings every two years and a mainnet target of the first quarter of 2027
Bitcoin: Prefer ETFs Over Strategy
On Bitcoin, Hayes offered a pointed view for equity investors seeking exposure: spot ETFs are the better vehicle than shares of Strategy, the Michael Saylor-led company formerly known as MicroStrategy that has accumulated billions of dollars in Bitcoin on its balance sheet.
He argued that Strategy shares were more attractive during periods when fears of Bitcoin dropping to $20,000 were widespread, but that advantage diminishes in an environment of expanding liquidity and improving economic conditions. For investors wanting Bitcoin exposure through traditional brokerage accounts, products like BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) make more sense, he said.
Retail Sentiment Stays Bullish
Retail traders appear to share Hayes’s enthusiasm. On Stocktwits, sentiment around Ether remained in the “extremely bullish” zone over the past day, with message volume at “high” levels. One user noted that if Ethereum maintains momentum and treasury companies see stronger outflows, stocks of Ethereum treasury firms could “accelerate as well.”
Hayes’s comments arrive during a broader crypto market uptrend, with Bitcoin trading above $79,000 and Ether holding above the $2,400 level. Whether his $5,000 target materializes depends on the reflexive buying he expects once the $3,000 threshold gives way.
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Source: finance.biggo.com