Arthur Hayes, co-founder of the crypto-exchange BitMEX, announced that he will introduce the investors of the Maelstrom fund, of which he is CIO, to degen crypto. This means that the strategy will focus on the shitcoins of decentralized science (DeSci).
Arthur Hayes and the degen crypto for the investors of the Maelstrom fund
In a blog post, Arthur Hayes, co-founder of the well-known crypto-exchange BitMEX, has published the new strategy of the degen crypto.
Specifically, Hayes is the chief investment officer of the Maelstrom fund, and he stated that he will introduce investors to implement the degen crypto mode, aiming to bet on shitcoin. The chosen trending sector is decentralized science (DeSci).
Here are his words:
“In my role as Chief Investment Officer of Maelstrom, I will encourage the fund’s investors to turn the risk dial to DEGEN. A first step in this direction is our decision to enter the burgeoning field of decentralized science shitcoins. We love undervalued shits and have purchased $BIO; $VITA; $ATH; $GROW; $PSY; $CRYO; $NEURON.”
The first shitcoins purchased by Maelstrom in Degen crypto mode are BIO, VITA; ATH, GROW, PSY, CRYO, NEURON.
Maelstrom is an investment fund managed by Arthur Hayes’s family office and aims to build a long-term portfolio of infrastructure companies, which will serve as the foundation for the next wave of trustless decentralization.
The fund generally invests in the venture-stage phase between 100,000 and 250,000 dollars (equity + token) and brings differentiated value to the capital tables: experience, relationships, and resources derived from having built from scratch one of the first profitable unicorns in the sector.
Now, however, what Maelstrom wants to do is act like the so-called degen crypto, that is, the participants in cryptocurrencies who focus on finding new coins and tokens to invest in, hoping to achieve big gains.
Degen refers to impulsive behavior, born in gambling.
Degen Crypto by Maelstrom Fund: the Decentralised science – DeSci
Hayes has decided to turn the investors of the Maelstrom Fund into crypto degens but of DeSci projects (Decentralized Science).
In this regard, Hayes commented on DeSci in another post on X. Here, it talks about the Bio Protocol token (BIO) that debuted on Binance’s launchpad last January 3, 2025. BIO achieved enormous success, with a performance of +2400% two minutes after its listing.
Not only that, Hayes is commenting on what is happening in the DeSci ecosystem, with the inaugural BioDAO (VitaDAO for longevity, CryoDAO for conservation, etc.) that are unlocking rewards in BIO for having believed in the ecosystem from the beginning. Such rewards for the BioDAO are of staggering size.
Hayes argues that while e BioDAO are about to make money with BIO rewards and the market has missed them.
More generally and speaking of DeSci, Hayes defines as follows:
“DeSci is one of the few new narratives in the space that many market participants have not yet heard about. According to Kaito’s precise, highly scientific, and foolproof calculations, DeSci’s mindshare increased by 2640% (lol, I know) in 2024, but it remains tiny compared to other themes monitored by Kaito. The situation is about to change… we are ready for a sector rotation”
Continuing, Hayes mentions the names of well-known crypto figures who are entering the DeSci sector. Among the various, there are Vitalik Buterin of Ethereum, Changpeng CZ Zhao of Binance, Brian Armstrong of Coinbase, and many others.
Is Kucoin the preferred exchange for degen crypto?
Last July 2024, it emerged that KuCoin had become the favorite crypto-exchange for degen crypto.
Basically, the platform enjoys very interesting investment tools, which are appealing to this category of trader or users.
And indeed, on KuCoin you can trade a wide range of memecoins and low market cap coins, all with competitive fees and high security.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2025/01/07/arthur-hayes-of-bitmex-introduces-his-maelstrom-fund-investors-to-the-degen-crypto/