Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes Predicts Crypto Dump Around Trump’s Inauguration

Former BitMEX Chief Executive Officer Arthur Hayes believes the crypto faithful who expect a wave of favorable crypto policies as soon as the Trump administration takes office are in for a rude awakening.

In a recently published end-of-year essay, Hayes squashed this belief, stating that a wide gap exists between crypto investors’ high expectations for how quickly Trump can change things and the reality that no politically acceptable solutions are available to Trump to bring about such change quickly.

“The market will instantly wake up to the reality that Trump has at best one year to enact any policy changes on or around January 20th. This realization will lead to a vicious sell-off in crypto and other Trump 2.0 equity trades,” Hayes wrote.

Hayes defends his position, stating that Trump has one year to act because the Republican House and Senate majority, which already have thin representation, will likely lose their governing power after mid-term US elections in November 2026.

Crypto Growth Post-Trump Win

Since Trump's electoral triumph, the crypto market has enjoyed an extended price rally, led by Bitcoin. The OG cryptocurrency historically surged above the psychological $100,000 mark and has recently set a new all-time high of $108,135 per Coingecko data.

Crypto investment products like Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have also seen positive growth since Trump’s win. Bitcoin ETFs have now surpassed Gold ETFs in assets under management (AUM) less than a year after launch.

Trump so far has kept his promises to the crypto community during his campaigns. He has named Paul Atkins, a known crypto supporter and advisor to Reserve Protocol, the new SEC chair. Current SEC Chair Gary Gensler will step down on Jan. 20, after Trump’s inauguration.