Arthur Hayes Lays Out His Bullish Thesis on Ethereum

In a macro-focused interview with the Bankless podcast, Arthur Hayes, the former BitMEX CEO and current Maelstrom CIO, laid out his bullish thesis

In a macro-focused interview with the Bankless podcast, Arthur Hayes, the former BitMEX CEO and current Maelstrom CIO, has shared his bullish thesis on Ethereum,output: suggesting that a move to $10,000 or even $15,000 could be in the cards as global liquidity shifts and capital controls take hold in the next monetary regime.

Asked why ETH had rallied over 50% in a week, Hayes dismissed technical triggers and pointed instead to sentiment. “The most hated asset goes up the fastest in the next cycle. It’s just human nature,” he said. In his view, Ethereum's comeback was long overdue after years of being overshadowed by Solana and other high-beta tokens.

“ETH was kind of dead. Everyone hated it. The BTC/ETH ratio was falling, Solana was running… it was time.”

Despite not having added to his position, Hayes said he remained long Ethereum and was unfazed by the current price. “It’s great it’s going up, but okay—let’s talk at $10,000 or $15,000. Let’s talk when it’s meaningful.”

Placing Ethereum's rebound in the broader context, Hayes spoke of a global monetary "phase shift"—a transition away from the US Treasury as the world’s reserve asset, toward a bifurcated system where store-of-value flows increasingly shift toward gold and Bitcoin. In this paradigm, Ethereum benefits not just from speculative risk flows, but also from structural changes in how capital moves under increasing financial repression and capital controls.

While he stated that gold and Bitcoin are the two neutral reserve assets in a politically fractured world, Hayes highlighted Ethereum as a powerful high-beta trade in the coming wave of liquidity expansion. “They print the money,” Hayes asserted. “And the consequence will be gold and Bitcoin going through the roof.”

Still, Ethereum's path won't be linear. Acknowledging ETH's underperformance versus Bitcoin so far, Hayes suggested that ETH's moment is coming—especially if regulatory clarity improves or if decentralized finance regains traction with sustainable cash flows. He singled out projects like EtherFi and Pendle as examples of token ecosystems that might finally justify valuation through fundamentals.

The potential for Ethereum to outperform dramatically remains, especially as the market continues to digest what Hayes sees as the beginning of the end for the 50-year US Treasury-based global financial system.

“If you want to preserve access to capital and spend it how you want, the only things you can own are gold and Bitcoin,” said Hayes. But for the investor with appetite for asymmetry, ETH is "a hard slog" now—yet still in the early stages of what could be a runaway rally.

Whether Ethereum reaches the $10,000 mark in 2025 or beyond, Hayes is positioning for that outcome.

“Mailstream is about 60% Bitcoin, 20% ETH and then you know a lot of other shitcoins and term sheets of token deals and stuff. On my non-crypto stuff, it’s physical gold and gold miners and T bills. That’s it,” Hayes disclosed.

At press time, ETH traded at $2,477.