Bitcoin's value proposition is not tied to regulation but to the amount of fiat liquidity in the system, according to Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom and co-founder of BitMEX.
Speaking at Consensus Miami 2026, Hayes made a stark case: "The more money that is printed in the U.S. and around the world, the more value that bitcoin will have in fiat currencies." He argued that factors such as bank bailouts, COVID stimulus, and geopolitical events like the Russian invasion of Ukraine have historically propelled bitcoin higher.
"This is the value that bitcoin provides outside of the regulatory apparatus," Hayes said, dismissing legislative efforts like the Clarity Act as irrelevant to bitcoin's core appeal.
Hayes, known for his prescient calls on AI-adjacent tokens and Zcash (up over 450% in the past year), frames bitcoin as a hedge against monetary expansion-not a product of institutional acceptance.