CONNECT recap: Arthur Hayes on money printing, Wall Street moves onchain

Arthur Hayes, chief investment officer at Maelstrom fund, suggested that money printing could potentially increase crypto prices. He spoke at Cointelegraph's CONNECT Seoul Edition event during Korea Blockchain Week, discussing Wall Street's competitive advantage onchain. Hayes believed that US policymakers might boost cryptocurrency prices by printing more money to fund AI and finance government debt.

Meanwhile, AI companies required trillions of dollars to fund data centers despite falling service prices, according to Hayes. In China, he anticipated a potential shift from an "austerity-lite" policy to substantial monetary stimulus, which could revive demand for scarce assets. In Europe, Hayes monitored financial stress in France, particularly credit-default swaps linked to BNP Paribas and French government bond spreads.

He felt that money printing would eventually occur, albeit in a gradual, destructive manner. At the event, Catrina Wang, general partner at Portal Ventures, emphasized that banks and asset managers have an existing customer base, giving them an edge over companies needing to attract investors. R3 co-founder Todd McDonald highlighted that public blockchains offer access to customers outside institutions' networks.

Justin Kugel, executive vice president of growth at World Liberty Financial, noted that even with crypto's promise to eliminate middlemen, investors still preferred centralized exchanges for asset management and risk assessment. Franklin Templeton decided not to issue its own stablecoin but planned for its tokenized money market funds to generate investment income alongside payment tokens.

The firm partnered with MoonPay to facilitate onchain transactions between stablecoins and these funds. Codex, a stablecoin foreign-exchange platform, saw growing demand for stablecoin payments in trade routes between Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. Ilya Podoynitsyn, co-founder and CEO of FinHarbor, warned that companies must consider their balance sheets, liquidity requirements, and risk tolerance before adopting crypto treasury strategies.

Michael Camarda, chief development officer at Ethereum treasury company SharpLink, explained that repurchasing shares and buying additional Ether could increase ETH holdings per share, appealing to both institutional and retail investors.