Crypto could benefit from an influx of Chinese money, Arthur Hayes says

Quick Take

  • Conditions are developing for China to dramatically flood its economy with credit, Arthur Hayes said.

Arthur Hayes thinks Chinese monetary authorities might be getting ready to flood the nation's economy with credit, bolstering bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market as a result.

"Let’s take a look at how the Middle Kingdom is about to throw gasoline on the raging fire that is the incipient crypto bull market," the BitMEX co-founder said in a blog post on Monday.

Hayes outlined a confluence of factors that could prompt China "to flood the world with yuan credit." In his blog post, he outlined how this influx of capital could end up boosting bitcoin

Interplay between the U.S. dollar, Chinese yuan

The Maelstrom CIO and former BitMEX CEO outlined how U.S. monetary policy is creating more favorable conditions for Chinese authorities to issue "immense amounts" of new credit to its beleaguered property sector.

He described recent U.S. policy as "weakening the dollar by issuing more Treasury bills." He said the impact of this is now evident with the decline of the dollar index, DXY, throughout November.

The weaker dollar gives Chinese authorities more room to press the yuan money printer, Hayes argued. "Even though China is going nuts with money printer go brrr, relative to the dollar, the yuan will at the very least be flat, and it might even appreciate," he added.

Hayes said that conditions will develop where the yuan will actually strengthen as the dollar continues to weaken. "This gives China the wiggle room to dramatically increase the amount of onshore yuan credit without the currency weakening," he added.

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Influx of capital could benefit bitcoin

This global monetary dynamic could benefit bitcoin, and the cryptocurrency market, Hayes said. "If China is printing yuan, it will make its way into the global markets and support the prices of all types of risk assets," the BitMEX co-founder added.

Firstly, he said there could be an influx of capital into risk assets from mainland China, using Hong Kong as a proxy. "If there is a way to legally move cash from the mainland to Hong Kong, bitcoin will be one of many risk assets that will be purchased," Hayes added

Secondly, he said that with "plentiful yuan credit," global demand for dollar credit and liquidity will fall. "Given that the dollar is the world’s largest funding currency, if the price of credit falls, all fixed supply assets like bitcoin and gold will rise in dollar fiat price terms," he added.

The BitMEX co-founder concluded that because this forecast favors risk assets, he plans to focus on crypto investments instead of investing in U.S. Treasury bills.

"I will continue moving money out of T-bills and into crypto because I want to get in now before it becomes apparent through the data that China’s money printer is going brrrrr," he added.


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About Author

Brian McGleenon is a UK-based markets reporter for The Block. He has worked as a financial journalist and producer for multiple news outlets over the years, such as Fuji Television, The Independent, Yahoo Finance, The Evening Standard, and The Daily Express. Brian is also a screenwriter and producer with one feature film produced and one in development with Northern Ireland Screen. Apart from web3 and cryptocurrency developments, he is also interested in geopolitics, environmental issues, artificial intelligence, and longevity research. Get in touch via email [email protected].

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