Arthur Hayes Is Back — $250 Million Fund Targets Six Promising Crypto Firms

The Maelstrom Equity Fund I marks the latest venture by Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, as he returns to the spotlight with an ambitious plan to reshape the crypto ￰0￱ family office aims to raise at least $250 million for its first private equity fund, focused on acquiring mid-sized crypto companies, Bloomberg ￰1￱ to Akshat Vaidya, co-founder and managing partner at Maelstrom, the fund will invest between $40 million and $75 million per deal, targeting up to six ￰2￱ focus will be on trading infrastructure providers and analytics platforms that demonstrate both profitability and growth potential. “We expect interest from investors who want exposure to a high–cash-flow, high–growth sector but don’t have the capacity to do so themselves,” Vaidya ￰3￱ fund will be registered in the United States and aims to attract crypto investors, pension funds, and family ￰4￱ first funding round is planned for March 31, 2026, with full completion expected by September 2026.

A Different Approach From Token Investing Each acquisition will be structured through special purpose vehicles (SPVs), where Maelstrom will act as the anchor ￰5￱ its venture arm, which invests in startup tokens, the new fund will focus exclusively on equity investments. “Such companies are much easier to ￰6￱ the off-chain world, you can’t artificially inflate valuations with unused tokens. That’s why we get attractive entry multiples,” Vaidya ￰7￱ acquisitions, Maelstrom plans to strengthen portfolio companies through stable cash flow, leadership renewal, and accelerated ￰8￱ four to five years, assets will be sold to larger strategic ￰9￱ Market Poised for Consolidation The launch comes amid a challenging fundraising ￰10￱ & ￰11￱ over 18,000 private equity funds are competing for $3.3 trillion in capital globally.

Meanwhile, crypto investors remain cautious after the 2022 market crash triggered by Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX ￰12￱ in crypto firms this year stands at around $1.4 billion, far below the $4 billion peak in 2021, according to PitchBook. Still, 2025 has brought a wave of large-scale acquisitions, signaling renewed confidence: Coinbase acquired Deribit for $2.9 billion Kraken acquired NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion Ripple acquired Hidden Road for $1.25 billion According to Architect Partners, crypto M&A activity reached a record $10 billion in Q3 ￰13￱ Equity Fund I will be led by Arthur Hayes, Akshat Vaidya, and Adam Schlegel, with plans to expand the team in the coming ￰14￱ March 2025, ￰15￱ Donald Trump pardoned Hayes and his BitMEX co-founders Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed, who were charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act in ￰16￱ pleading guilty in 2022, each paid a $10 million fine and received probation — clearing the path for Hayes’ high-profile return.