Arthur Hayes Warns AI Boom Will Waste Trillions, Predicts Crypto Rally by 2028

Arthur Hayes, co-founder and chief investment officer of crypto investment firm Maelstrom, warned at Singapore’s Gamma Prime Investing Conference that the AI boom is wasting multi-trillion dollars on data centers that will become overcapacity. Hayes expects the financial test to arrive in late 2027 or 2028, when new facilities come online and providers demand payment from customers like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic who currently make no money. He predicts this crash will trigger a government bailout that floods markets with excess liquidity, positioning Bitcoin and crypto to absorb those funds.

Why Hayes sees an AI data-center crash coming

Hayes argues that every major technological rollout follows the same pattern: massive overbuilding, a crash, and a government bailout. The current AI infrastructure boom is no exception. Companies are racing to build data centers to supply computing power for advanced AI models, but the buildout will ultimately make computing “extremely cheap and extremely plentiful,” Hayes said. Once completed, infrastructure providers will demand payment for the compute capacity their customers committed to buy.

Which companies face the biggest payment shock

SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic are among the major end users driving demand for computing power, Hayes said. None of these companies is currently making money. When data centers under construction are finished in late 2027 or 2028, these firms will face bills for the computing capacity they pledged to purchase. That payment crunch could trigger the downturn Hayes predicts.

How crypto benefits from the bailout

Hayes pointed to the 2008 financial crisis and other episodes over the past two decades as proof that government bailouts follow crashes. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could absorb the excess liquidity released by those bailouts, Hayes said. He emphasized patience, noting that investors who position for the bailout stand to benefit. Hayes also noted a competing scenario: AI could become useful enough in the next 12 months for demand to grow and companies to turn profitable, avoiding the crash entirely.

Cathie Wood’s Bitcoin price target aligns with crypto optimism

Ark Invest founder Cathie Wood recently reiterated a $1.5 million price target for Bitcoin by 2030, representing a 1,665% gain from its current price of $85,000. Wood cited institutional adoption and a more favorable regulatory climate as catalysts. She also highlighted a new use case: AI agents could use Bitcoin for micro-transactions, since a single Bitcoin divides into 100 million satoshis, making it potentially more useful than dollars for tiny payments.

Final Thoughts

Hayes’s thesis hinges on a cycle that has repeated in tech history: overbuilding, crash, bailout, and crypto gains. Bitcoin’s near-term direction depends on whether AI companies become profitable before 2028 or face a payment crunch that triggers government intervention.

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The content shared by Meyka AI PTY LTD is solely for research and informational purposes.  Meyka is not a financial advisory service, and the information provided should not be considered investment or trading advice.