Arthur Hayes sees threat in institutional interest in Bitcoin.

Approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF will not benefit the asset itself or the people who use it. In a discussion with Blockworks, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes said.

In his words, institutional interest in the asset threatens a situation that may not be to our liking in the end.

“The state needs its citizens to ‘sit in the paper banking system’, to tax them with inflationary levies to service the ever-growing debts. This makes sense for institutional entities, which by their nature are subordinate to the state.”

Hayes added that in such a system clients will not really be able to use the first cryptocurrency.

“You had some fiat currency, you bought this derivative. The asset manager went and bought some Bitcoin, stored it, and they stayed there,” the expert explained.

He acknowledged that broad adoption of cryptocurrency would be favorable for the price. Yet Hayes asked whether it would bring real benefit to the asset.

“Yes, indeed, an ETF appears, the price rises to as high as it can go—but what is the ultimate result of one institution owning all this cryptocurrency?”

Earlier, former BitMEX CEO predicted the rise of digital gold to $1 million by 2026. He justified his view by the asset’s limited supply, the prospect of approving spot Bitcoin ETFs and geopolitical uncertainty.