Arthur Hayes’ Crypto Fund: The boldest gamble since Las Vegas, but with more spreadsheets

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Imagine being Arthur Hayes-yes, that Arthur Hayes-the guy who famously predicted that crypto would make you rich, only to see his bets sometimes go south faster than my attempts to cook dinner without burning anything. Now he’s playing it even fancier with Maelstrom, his homegrown tornado of a fund looking to suck up a cool $250 million. And where’s it headed? To mid-sized crypto companies, because apparently size does matter-when it comes to investments, that is. The goal? Make traditional investors feel all warm and fuzzy about crypto now that everything crashed in November 2022, and they’re itching to leap back into the market like a cat onto a keyboard.

![Image of Crypto market cap](https://s3.tradingview.com/snapshots/a/AqMd4aTa.png)

Who says you can’t buy happiness? Hayes aims to buy six crypto companies instead

According to Bloomberg, Hayes-who’s now not just a guy with a fancy beard but also a budding venture capitalist-and his sidekick Akshat Vaidya, the former M&A head at BitMEX, are hammering away to garner this $250 million for Maelstrom Equity Fund I. They want to snag six crypto firms, each costing roughly $40 to $75 million-because nothing screams stability like throwing a bunch of cash at blockchain service providers, analytics startups, and trading infrastructure. It’s like trying to fix a sinking ship by throwing more life jackets on it.

Managing director Vaidya (who is probably very busy), threw in some insights-probably over a fancy latte-about how this is the first-ever PE fund to focus solely on crypto. His big idea? Give blockchain founders an exit strategy that doesn’t include retiring in a tent in the woods. Plus, he’s eyeing the traditional finance guys-those brave souls venturing into crypto-by offering a portfolio of cash-flowing businesses ready for IPO or acquisition. Basically, if Robinhood or Charles Schwab wanted to dip their toes, Hayes wants to be the guy handing out floaties.

And let’s not forget the cherry on top: Hayes, Vaidya, and the new guy, Adam Schlegel-who sounds like he should be a secret agent-are giving big money folks like pension funds the opportunity to throw 9 figures at blockchain businesses without having to endure the rollercoaster of tokens and market chaos. Because, after all, what could possibly go wrong?

High risk, high reward? Or just high anxiety?

Here’s the kicker-Bloomberg mentions that Maelstrom’s ambition is launching during what experts call “a global PE drought,” with a slide of 65% in crypto-specific private equity investments since 2021. That’s like trying to sell ice cream in a snowstorm. Yet, amidst the chaos, Hayes and crew are splashing around in the pool of potential-buying up assets while everyone else is nervously clutching their wallets. The market cap is sitting at a hefty $3.59 trillion, which is impressive, considering the last 24 hours saw a tiny dip of just over 1%. Just enough to give investors pause-because volatility is the new black.

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2025-10-19 01:48