Bitcoin To Hit $145,000 By End Of 2026, Arthur Hayes Predicts

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predicts Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) will hit $145,000 by year end as the Federal Reserve quietly expands its balance sheet by $40 billion per month and wartime spending forces commercial banks to print money.

The Fed Is Already Printing

Hayes said the Fed’s balance sheet is expanding at approximately $40 billion per month through reserve management purchases, despite all the inflation concerns.

He noted that people were freaking out after Federal Reserve Chair nominee Kevin Warsh testified to the Senate about how quantitative easing has harmed poor people, but the reality is different.?

When Warsh gets in, the impetus will be to continue the policies of his predecessor, which is balance sheet expansion.

Hayes added that he doesn’t believe the Fed balance sheet will shrink. It’s going to take a long time for them to agree about a framework that governs that shrinkage.

War Means Money Printing

Hayes said the Iran war changes everything. Trump doesn’t care about CPI?he cares about how many missiles were sent, how much they cost, and how many drones can be killed.

“War means money printing,” Hayes said. “War means I need to build more bombs, kill more people, so let’s print some more money.”

Hayes argued that all the reasons for not printing money before don’t apply because the U.S. is fighting a war.

The China Model Coming To America

Hayes believes the U.S. is moving to a Chinese model where the government tells banks where to lend. 

“The commercial banking system prints the money and the government tells them where to lend,” he said.

Trump will tell banks where they need to be lending, whether it’s armament manufacturers or rare minerals companies. 

That’s how credit will be allocated through the commercial banking system at the behest of politicians.

The 95% Long Position

Hayes said he’s 95% long with only 5% cash. His fund is long-only crypto, so they’re always long?they just haven’t put everything at maximum risk.

The decision tree now is whether to sell Bitcoin to buy things that will go up faster in a supportive liquidity environment, like Zcash (CRYPTO: ZEC) or Hyperliquid (CRYPTO: HYPE).

The $150 Hype Target

Hayes set a $150 price target for Hyperliquid within four months based on a model projecting $1.4 billion in annualized revenue by end of August. The token currently trades around $40.

“You’re basically allowing seven plus billion people access to these markets that they had no access to before and you give them high leverage,” Hayes said.

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