As the cryptocurrency market fell another 2.02% in the past 24 hours, currently at $3.66 trillion, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes reportedly withdrew $13.35 million in cryptocurrency. Hayes responded to a post on X regarding this move, clearly stating that he still believes bitcoin will return to the $100,000 mark and ethereum will reach $3,000.
Hayes Blames Fear of Tariffs, Sells $13 Million in Cryptocurrency Before Important Speech in Tokyo
On August 1, 2025, the X account Lookonchain shared a post stating, "Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) sold 2,373 ETH ($8.32 million), 7.76 million ENA ($4.62 million), and 38.86 billion PEPE ($414.7 thousand) in the past 6 hours." The account also highlighted a wallet address linked to Hayes via Arkham Intelligence. Another entity tagged by Arkham was also labeled as belonging to Hayes, but the former integrated a question mark, suggesting the assigner was not entirely sure.
However, Hayes directly responded to Lookonchain's post on X and, based on his response, seemed to imply that that wallet belongs to him. Hayes referenced the macroeconomic situation in context. He believes a US tariff bill is imminent in the third quarter, and after the latest jobs report (NFP), markets are pricing that in. He further argued that no major economy is generating enough credit to boost real GDP growth.
Hayes said:
"So, BTC tests the 100K level, ETH tests the 3K level."
For more, he mentioned his important speech on August 25 at WebX Asia in Tokyo—then said he would "go back to the beach." Hayes likely withdrew funds due to short-term macroeconomic pressures prompting a defensive portfolio adjustment in the crypto downturn.
Despite the sell-off, Hayes remains long-term optimistic, expecting a liquidity boom from US financial expansion under potential Trump policies, BOJ dollar pumping, and war-induced inflation economics. Previously, he predicted bitcoin would reach $200,000 by the end of the year as a benefit from global monetary easing.
