Who Is Arthur Hayes? The BitMEX Founder Who Invented the Perpetual Swap, Went to Prison, Got Pardoned, and Predicts Bitcoin at $1 Million
Arthur Hayes co-founded BitMEX in 2014, invented the perpetual swap contract that became the most traded instrument in crypto derivatives, built BitMEX to $3.6 billion valuation and $2.1 billion in daily trading volume by 2017, pleaded guilty to Bank Secrecy Act violations in 2022, served home detention, and was pardoned by Trump on March 29 2025. His net worth is estimated at $200 to $350 million. He now predicts Bitcoin at $200,000 near-term and $1 million by 2028.
TL;DR: Arthur Hayes is a Detroit-born, Wharton-educated derivatives trader who co-founded BitMEX in 2014 after being fired from Deutsche Bank's ETF market-making desk in Hong Kong. He invented the perpetual swap contract, a derivative instrument that allows traders to maintain leveraged long or short positions on Bitcoin without expiration dates, now the most traded financial instrument in crypto markets globally. Under his leadership as CEO, BitMEX grew from zero to $3.6 billion valuation and $2.1 billion in average daily trading volume by 2019. Hayes stepped down as CEO in October 2020 when BitMEX was indicted by the US Department of Justice for Bank Secrecy Act violations: the exchange had allowed US customers to trade without KYC and had not implemented adequate AML controls. Hayes pleaded guilty in February 2022 to willfully failing to establish an AML program. He was sentenced to six months home detention, two years probation, and a $10 million fine. On March 29, 2025, President Donald Trump granted Hayes and his BitMEX co-founders a full pardon, clearing all federal charges. Hayes now serves as Chief Investment Officer of Maelstrom, his family office fund. His net worth is estimated at $200 to $350 million per Arkham Intelligence. He has predicted Bitcoin will reach $200,000 in the near term and $1 million by 2028. He holds a 20 percent gold allocation in his personal portfolio alongside Bitcoin, a position that surprised the crypto community given his Bitcoin maximalism reputation. MediaCrypto note: Arthur Hayes is one of the most intellectually consequential figures in crypto finance. The perpetual swap he invented made leveraged crypto trading accessible to retail traders globally and created the derivatives market infrastructure that now processes trillions of dollars annually. His post-pardon macro essays, which combine deep knowledge of global monetary policy with crypto-native analysis, are among the most read pieces of original financial commentary in the industry.
Arthur Hayes grew up in Detroit in a working-class family. He graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2008, one of the most prestigious business programs in the world, into one of the worst job markets in a generation: the 2008 financial crisis.
He landed at Deutsche Bank as an equity derivatives trader in Hong Kong. He was good at it. He was also fired in 2013.
The firing that changed crypto.
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The Origin: From Deutsche Bank to Crypto Derivatives
After being fired from his role making markets in equity derivatives at Deutsche Bank and Citibank in Hong Kong in 2013, Hayes encountered Bitcoin. His derivatives background gave him an unusual perspective: he understood the mechanics of leveraged trading, the role of liquidation engines, and the economics of market-making better than almost anyone entering the nascent crypto space at the time.
The problem he identified was specific: crypto traders wanted to express directional views on Bitcoin with leverage, but the instruments available were primitive. Futures contracts expired on predetermined dates, requiring traders to roll positions and pay rollover costs. Options markets were illiquid and expensive. There was no efficient way to maintain a leveraged position continuously.
Hayes co-founded BitMEX in November 2014 with Samuel Reed and Ben Delo, building the exchange in Hong Kong. The mission was to build derivatives infrastructure for Bitcoin that matched the sophistication of traditional financial markets.
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The Perpetual Swap: Hayes's Most Consequential Innovation
The perpetual swap, designed by Hayes using his derivatives background, is now the most traded financial instrument in crypto markets globally. The innovation was elegant: a futures-like leveraged contract with no expiration date, maintaining its peg to the spot price through a funding rate mechanism paid between long and short holders every eight hours.
Before the perpetual swap, traders who wanted sustained Bitcoin leverage had to manage rolling futures contracts, paying spreads and fees at each rollover. The perpetual eliminated this friction: you open a position and it stays open indefinitely, with the funding rate adjusting continuously to prevent the contract from drifting too far from spot price.
The mechanics created a product that retail traders could understand and institutional traders could size into. By 2019, BitMEX was processing $2.1 billion in average daily trading volume. By end of 2017 it was handling $2.1 billion per day. The $3.6 billion valuation BitMEX achieved by February 2020 was built almost entirely on the success of this one product innovation.
Every major crypto derivatives exchange today, including Binance Futures, Bybit, Hyperliquid, and OKX, offers perpetual swaps modeled on Hayes's original design. The product is foundational to the global crypto derivatives market that now processes hundreds of billions of dollars daily.
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The Collapse: US Indictment and Stepping Down
BitMEX's growth came at a cost: the exchange operated without adequate compliance infrastructure. It allowed US customers to trade without KYC verification, despite US financial regulations requiring AML programs for money services businesses serving US persons. The CFTC had warned BitMEX in 2019. The DOJ indictment came in October 2020.
Hayes stepped down as CEO immediately after the indictment. He disappeared from public view for several months, surfacing in the Seychelles before eventually surrendering to US authorities in Honolulu, Hawaii in April 2021. In February 2022, he pleaded guilty to one count of willfully failing to establish an AML program at BitMEX. The charge was not fraud, theft, or market manipulation: it was a compliance failure.
The sentence: six months home detention, two years probation, and a $10 million personal fine. No prison time. The BitMEX exchange separately paid $100 million to the CFTC for Commodity Exchange Act violations.
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The Trump Pardon and the Comeback
On March 29, 2025, President Donald Trump granted Arthur Hayes and his BitMEX co-founders Samuel Reed and Ben Delo a full pardon, clearing all federal charges. The pardon came one day after Trump pardoned Trevor Milton, the former Nikola Motors CEO convicted of fraud, and followed Trump's earlier pardons of Ross Ulbricht and the pattern of crypto-friendly executive clemency that characterized his second term.
The pardon was described as surprising to some in the crypto community, given that Hayes had already served his sentence and paid his fine, making the legal slate already largely clear. The symbolic significance was the full clearing of the federal record.
Hayes has since re-emerged as CIO of Maelstrom, his family office fund, and as one of the most widely read macro commentators in the crypto space. His essays, which combine monetary policy analysis with crypto market structure insight, have attracted a following among institutional investors who want crypto-native analysis with traditional finance depth.
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Arthur Hayes in 2026: Maelstrom, Gold, and Bitcoin at $1 Million
Hayes now operates Maelstrom as his primary vehicle, focusing on what he describes as the vicissitudes of dollar liquidity and the long-term institutionalization of the crypto economy. Maelstrom has invested in DeFi protocols, Layer 2 infrastructure, and crypto-adjacent technology companies.
At the Token2049 conference in Dubai in May 2025, Hayes shared his current market views with Fortune magazine: he predicted Bitcoin would reach $200,000 in the near term and $1 million by 2028, driven by dollar debasement, the US debt trajectory, and institutional adoption. He described US debt levels as a primary driver of his Bitcoin conviction, arguing that the mathematical trajectory of US debt service costs makes fiat currency debasement inevitable.
The most surprising element of his current portfolio positioning is a 20 percent allocation to gold alongside Bitcoin. Hayes had historically been dismissive of gold as an asset, but explained that in the current macro regime he sees gold as complementary rather than competitive to Bitcoin: gold for short-term institutional crisis-hedge demand, Bitcoin for long-term monetary debasement.
His net worth is estimated at $200 to $350 million per Arkham Intelligence, significantly below the peak of his wealth at BitMEX's $3.6 billion valuation but still substantial, with approximately $42 million in verifiable on-chain assets alongside his Maelstrom equity and BitMEX stake.
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About the Author
This article was researched and written by the MediaCrypto editorial team. Follow us on X at https://x.com/MediaCrypto_AI and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/mediacrypto.ai/
FAQ — Who Is Arthur Hayes
Who is Arthur Hayes? Arthur Hayes is a Detroit-born Wharton graduate and former Deutsche Bank derivatives trader who co-founded BitMEX in 2014, invented the perpetual swap contract now used across all major crypto derivatives exchanges, and built BitMEX to a $3.6 billion valuation. He was pardoned by Trump on March 29 2025 after pleading guilty to BSA violations in 2022.
What is Arthur Hayes's net worth in 2026? Arkham Intelligence estimates Arthur Hayes's net worth at $200 to $350 million in 2026, including approximately $42 million in verifiable on-chain assets, his Maelstrom family office equity, and his BitMEX stake. His wealth peaked when BitMEX was valued at $3.6 billion.
What is the perpetual swap Arthur Hayes invented? The perpetual swap is a leveraged derivative contract that tracks an underlying asset's price with no expiration date, maintaining its peg through a funding rate paid between long and short holders every eight hours. Invented by Hayes for BitMEX, it is now the most traded instrument in crypto markets and has been adopted by all major exchanges.
Did Trump pardon Arthur Hayes? Yes. President Donald Trump granted Arthur Hayes and his BitMEX co-founders Samuel Reed and Ben Delo a full pardon on March 29, 2025, clearing all federal charges related to Bank Secrecy Act violations. Hayes had previously pleaded guilty in February 2022 and received six months home detention, two years probation, and a $10 million personal fine.
What is Arthur Hayes's Bitcoin prediction for 2026? At the Token2049 Dubai conference in May 2025, Hayes predicted Bitcoin would reach $200,000 in the near term and $1 million by 2028, driven by US dollar debasement, the US debt trajectory, and continued institutional adoption. He also holds a 20 percent gold allocation alongside Bitcoin in his personal portfolio.
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