Hayes Sees Trillion-Dollar Rescue Fueling Crypto Boom

Arthur Hayes is not shy about his views on artificial intelligence (AI). In an interview at KBW 2026, he called AI a bubble, plain and simple. He sees the reckoning arriving within 12 to 18 months as data-center bills come due for companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI. Hayes points out that these companies don't make any money, yet they're building enormous infrastructure on expectations of future demand.

The Maelstrom partner expects a government rescue worth multiple trillions of dollars to prop up the sector. 'The point is they're going to keep printing money instead of letting the chips fall where they may,' Hayes said. This could trigger a liquidity event in crypto, which he believes will gain from an AI bailout.

Hayes isn't just waiting for the bubble to burst; he's building a business designed for what comes next. His Flop Labs project is developing FLOP, a blockchain network connecting AI agents with computing power. The goal is to create agentic commerce, where software agents perform economic tasks continuously.

The cheap compute left behind from the AI buildout could fuel an economy driven by AI agents. Hayes likens this to Bitcoin and its design, with no venture-capital allocation or presale. An airdrop of FLOP will begin in late October and run for 90 days, distributing about 25% of the planned 10-year supply.