Arthur Hayes, the always-quotable co-founder of BitMEX, is once again telling the impatient Bitcoin crowd to get real. His latest message? If you bought Bitcoin yesterday and are already window-shopping Lamborghinis, you’re about to get wrecked.
Speaking with Kyle Chasse on YouTube, Hayes laid it out bluntly:
“If you thought you were buying Bitcoin and the next day you were buying a Lamborghini, you’re probably getting liquidated because it is not the right way to think about things.”
Hayes’ point is simple but cuts against the dopamine-driven culture of crypto Twitter: Bitcoin is a long game. Those who bought two, five, or ten years ago are laughing today, while the six-month “number go up” crowd is sulking about why BTC isn’t at $150K yet.
Context: Bitcoin vs. Everything Else
Today Bitcoin is trading around $115,400, still below its August 2025 all-time high of $124,100. Meanwhile, gold just hit a record $3,674 and the S&P 500 closed at 6,587. Traditional markets are flexing, and that makes some Bitcoiners nervous. Why isn’t Bitcoin already blowing past $150K?
Hayes’ response: wrong question.
“Bitcoin is the best performing asset when you think about currency debasement ever.”
In his view, Bitcoin doesn’t need to keep up with the S&P 500 or gold on a week-to-week basis. Those assets look shiny in nominal terms, but when you strip them down and measure against hard money, they’re not nearly as impressive. Hayes pointed out that the S&P 500, priced in gold, still hasn’t recovered from the 2008 crisis. By comparison, Bitcoin’s performance is so extreme that, in Hayes’ words, “you can’t even see [other assets] on the chart.”
Bitcoin is steady at $115,400, Source: BNC
Why This Matters: The Patience Premium
The crypto industry is notorious for attracting short-term gamblers who want to “get rich quick.” Hayes is trying to remind them that Bitcoin has averaged an absurd 82.4% annualized return over the past decade (per Curvo data). That’s not an asset; that’s a cheat code—if you’re patient enough.
But patience doesn’t sell YouTube ads or Twitter engagement. Impatience, hype, and Lamborghini memes do. Which is why Hayes’ comments will land as boring truth bombs in a market addicted to fantasy.
Hayes is basically saying: Bitcoin isn’t a scratch-off lottery ticket, it’s a multi-decade wealth transfer mechanism. If you treat it like the former, you’ll get rekt. If you treat it like the latter, you might actually get that Lambo—but not tomorrow.
