Arthur Hayes argues Bitcoin's underperformance is due to AI capital absorption and predicts crypto will decline alongside AI stocks during liquidity events.
Macro & Markets ·
Arthur Hayes attributed Bitcoin's lack of rally to AI capital expenditures absorbing marginal investment flows, despite ongoing money printing. In an interview dated June 26, 2026, he argued that investors have redirected capital toward AI tech stocks and their supply chains, while newly wealthy individuals emerging from the AI boom prefer hard assets or NASDAQ diversification over crypto holdings.
Hayes further contended that a downturn in AI equities would trigger an initial cryptocurrency sell-off. He cited crypto's round-the-clock liquidity as the mechanism: during margin calls, investors would liquidate digital assets to raise cash before markets stabilize and price discovery identifies relative winners.
What remains unspecified is the timeframe Hayes expects for an AI correction or the magnitude of crypto losses he anticipates during such an event. His thesis also does not address whether crypto could decouple from AI stocks over longer horizons or recover differently than traditional equities.