Arthur Hayes: US banking crisis and soaring national debt will lead to significant volatility in Bitcoin in the second half of the year.

BlockBeats reported on May 29th that Arthur Hayes, co-founder of the cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX, predicted significant volatility in Bitcoin in the second half of the year due to the "powder keg" effect caused by the US banking crisis and the growing explosion of national debt. Hayes made many predictions about the current economic outlook and Bitcoin prices in the What Bitcoin Did podcast on May 26th. He expects Bitcoin to reach $70,000 by 2024, and points out that quantitative easing, increasing money supply, and broader social unrest are the two main driving forces behind this event, which could cause sharp drops in stock and cryptocurrency prices. Hayes added that he does not expect Bitcoin to reach a new all-time high at any time this year, "although I think this will ultimately be good for Bitcoin, the ups and downs may be quite significant." In addition, other analysts have made positive comments on Bitcoin prices in the short term. For example, Tommy Honan, market analysis director of the cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx, believes that resolving debt problems may "attract traders back to the market and trigger the next big rise in Bitcoin prices." According to a report in Barron's on May 24th, JPMorgan strategists said last week that the current gold price could mean Bitcoin is priced at $45,000. Analysts believe that next year's Bitcoin halving event will support this potential price prediction, but they also see the impact of US crackdown on cryptocurrencies and the collapse of FTX will "limit any potential gains." Hayes also mentioned some of his personal investment strategies, saying he is focusing on ETH staking, closely monitoring the development of Bitcoin Ordinals, and investing in Pepe (PEPE). Hayes is known for his biased price predictions. For example, in April 2020, he warned that Bitcoin prices could plummet 57% from $7,000 to $3,000, but Bitcoin remained stable and rebounded 28% to $9,000 over the next three months. Recently, Hayes predicted that after the Ethereum Merge upgrade, the price of ETH will reach $5,000. After the successful implementation of The Merge, the price of Ether immediately fell for several months, and then rebounded with other cryptocurrency markets earlier this year.