Maelstrom Fund chief investment officer Arthur Hayes has cautioned that escalating macroeconomic challenges could pull Bitcoin back down to the $100,000 range — and he has already secured crypto gains in preparation.
Hayes attributed the current crypto downturn to revived tariff anxieties triggered by the underwhelming Non-Farm Payrolls report, which revealed merely 73,000 new jobs added in the US in July — an indication of economic vulnerability.
He also highlighted stagnant credit expansion in key economies impeding nominal gross domestic product growth, warning that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) might decline further towards the $100,000 and $3,000 thresholds.
Hayes liquidated over $13M of ETH, ENA, and PEPE
His remarks on Saturday came as a reaction to a post on X from blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, which noted that Hayes had recently sold off $8.32 million worth of ETH, $4.62 million of Ethena (ENA), and $414,700 of the Pepe (PEPE) memecoin.
The wallet operated by Hayes that executed the recent sell-offs now contains $28.3 million in tokens, with $22.95 million stored in the USDC (USDC) stablecoin, as per data from Arkham Intelligence.
Bitcoin on the brink of a double-digit correction
Hayes’ statements resonate with broader concerns that macro challenges could hinder crypto’s progress. Tight credit, reintroduced tariffs, and a weakening job market may exert pressure on risk-on assets, testing investor confidence and potentially inciting a correction.
Bitcoin has plunged over 7.7% from the $123,000 peak it achieved on July 14, while Ether has decreased 12.5% since surpassing the $3,900 mark on July 28, according to CoinGecko data.
A decline in Bitcoin’s price to $100,000 would indicate an 18.7% correction.
Bitcoin proponents claim it’s different this time
Nevertheless, numerous market analysts believe Bitcoin has moved past the era of significant double-digit downturns.
Among them is Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, who observed that following BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF submission in June 2023, Bitcoin has shown “much less volatility and no stomach-churning drawdowns.”
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Mitchell Askew, chief analyst of Bitcoin mining firm Blockware Solutions added: “The era of parabolic bull runs and catastrophic bear markets has concluded.”
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