Arthur Hayes, the influential co-founder of BitMEX and founder of the investment fund Maelstrom, has declared his firm is entering 2026 with "almost maximum risk" exposure, heavily favoring altcoins and privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. In a detailed essay published on Tuesday, Hayes outlined a strategic pivot where Maelstrom has significantly reduced its stablecoin holdings to aggressively accumulate risk assets.
The fund's refined focus is now centered on privacy coins like Zcash (ZEC) and emerging decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens. Hayes explicitly stated, "Maelstrom entered 2026 with almost maximum risk. While we will continue to invest spare cash generated from various financing trades into Bitcoin, our dollar stables position is very low." This marks a sharp reversal from early 2025 when the fund had reduced risk and raised fiat currency.
Hayes's thesis is rooted in a macro-economic playbook he believes will continue to drive crypto prices higher. He points to rising nominal GDP, persistent U.S. deficit spending, and what he sees as inevitable money printing by the Federal Reserve. He argues this wave of liquidity, partly driven by geopolitical actions like recent U.S. intervention in Venezuela, will broadly support crypto but especially reward higher-risk plays in lesser-known tokens.
"Looking into the future, this year’s dominant narrative will surround privacy," Hayes wrote, framing Zcash as the "privacy beta." He disclosed that Maelstrom is "already long a fuck ton of that at excellent prices obtained in 3Q25." Zcash has seen significant appreciation, climbing from around $120 in October 2025 to approximately $514 at the time of the report, representing a 770% gain over the past year.
The shift in strategy follows Maelstrom's performance in 2025, which Hayes described as profitable but uneven, with strong returns from tokens like Bitcoin (BTC), HYPE, and PENDLE, alongside costly missteps in others such as PUMP. The fund began aggressively adding risk in April 2025, going "maximum long" in crypto exposure, and by summer was "backing up the truck" for a new altcoin cycle. Concurrently, Maelstrom has made a strategic investment in chain abstraction stablecoin startup River, though specific figures were not disclosed.
