Arthur Hayes Says Any AI Bust Could End in Money Printing, Boosting Bitcoin

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes argued in his latest essay, Safety First, that moves by U.S. AI labs including Anthropic and OpenAI to slow AGI development on safety grounds may instead reflect weaker-than-expected demand for AI at current prices. Hayes said reduced training spending could undermine demand for data centers and chips, putting pressure on more than $1 trillion of investment-grade debt and hundreds of billions of dollars in lower-rated loans tied to AI infrastructure.

He argues that resulting credit stress could ultimately force the U.S. government either to become a “compute buyer of last resort” or support insurers exposed to AI debt — outcomes he expects would increase dollar liquidity and benefit Bitcoin and other crypto assets.