U.S.-China Trade Wars Could Send Bitcoin to the Moon — Arthur Hayes Sees Bullish Tailwinds

Geopolitical tensions just became rocket fuel for crypto. As Washington and Beijing escalate trade restrictions, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes argues Bitcoin stands to gain the most.

Why? Because when elephants fight, the grass gets trampled — and traditional finance is looking increasingly like a withering lawn. Capital flight, currency devaluation fears, and sanctions workarounds could drive unprecedented demand for decentralized assets.

Hayes points to history: During the 2019 trade war, BTC surged 200% while the S&P 500 wobbled. This time, with CBDCs looming and dollar weaponization accelerating, the case for crypto as a neutral settlement layer grows stronger.

Of course, Wall Street will still claim credit when prices rise — after spending years dismissing Bitcoin as a ’fraud.’ Nothing like watching hedge funds FOMO into an asset they once mocked.

As the traditional market reacts to the impact of Trump’s tariffs, with a massive drop recorded in the stock market, Bitcoiners are noticing a shift that promises to benefit the big bull. Per Arthur Hayes, the U.S. and China’s ongoing battle will catalyze a Bitcoin boom. 

Hayes, the CEO of BitMEX, asserts that more money would be in circulation as governments might attempt to contain the impact of the ongoing trade wars with excessive printing of fiat currencies.

“China’s not alone. Every major economy needs to print a lot of money to basically cushion the effects of this attempted divorce, this decline in globalization. But at the end of the day, yeah, they’re going to print money – Bitcoin benefits.” He said in an interview with the host of the Forward Guidance YouTube channel.

The crypto founder is convinced that the U.S. government will not survive the massive decline in capital gains taxes if the market tanks due to the tariff hikes. If Bitcoin benefits, a possibility that Hayes envisions, he sees the asset decoupling from the broader tech market.

Dismissing market suggestions that the central bank could add cryptocurrencies to its asset portfolio, Hayes explains that the government might not be ready to make the transition, adding that gold could be a suitable alternative.

As he is quoted as saying; 

“I don’t think that they’re mentally prepared for that sort of leap. They understand gold. They’ve been trained in gold. They’ve read history books about gold.” 

At the time of this report, Bitcoin has successfully sustained momentum over the $95,000 zone and is trading at $95,250. The asset is expected to attempt to test $100,000 in the coming weeks.