Arthur Hayes Sold HYPE and NEAR, Mert Mumtaz Says That’s Missing the Point | Markets Outlook

**Mert Mumtaz** (0:00)
Bitcoin is getting all the attention due to Sailor right now. But I think Sailor is more of a red herring. He's just fun to troll, frankly, on Twitter, but I don't think it's really too much to do with him. I don't even think it's too much to do with Quantum.
I think it's just capital rotation. And if your time horizon is at least two to three years, I think it's a great time to pick some stuff up on discount.

**Jennifer Sanasie** (0:30)
Markets move fast, crypto moves faster. From the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, CoinDesk's Public Keys tracks the money, markets and moves shaping digital assets.
Mert Mumtaz, welcome to Markets Outlook.

**Mert Mumtaz** (1:03)
Thank you for having me.

**Jennifer Sanasie** (1:05)
All right, what a day it is for you to be joining Markets Show. Talk to me about what you're watching today and for the rest of the week.

**Mert Mumtaz** (1:12)
What I'm watching today and for the rest of the week? Well, I'm trying not to watch too much, to be honest.
Obviously, it's not a pretty sight. Obviously, there's going to be some consolidation in or from the institutional holders of crypto to these IPOs of SpaceX and Anthropic and Chats GPT OpenAI. And I just try not to look at it. Honestly, I think crypto Twitter especially does this thing of trying to time markets and momentum trade and swing trade. But our time horizon or my time horizon, at the very least, is going to be at least two to three years. And just shield and chill is my motto.

**Jennifer Sanasie** (1:53)
You mentioned these large IPOs that we're expecting kind of taking the attention and capital away from everything else. Just tell me a little bit about how you're thinking about that as someone who invests in crypto markets. Like, are you just waiting for the IPOs to see what happens? When are you going to allocate capital back into the markets? Just talk me a little bit through your process.

**Mert Mumtaz** (2:16)
What I've done in the past or how I'm thinking about this is I think there is going to be obviously a large rotation and it's underway. It's been underway for really the past year. And obviously there has to come an end to that at some point. And the question is whether you can survive until that happens. Because people are extremely emotional right now. But it's sort of silly thinking and it's a very silly mental framework that crypto didn't die the past five times when literally nothing even worked. But now that everything actually works and the biggest, most consequential bill, the Clarity Act, is about to pass. And I'm pretty sure it's going to pass. And all these catalysts are coming up.
It's important to not get emotional and just look at what the facts are. And obviously, there's also a lot of geopolitical instability in terms of Iran and America and Ukraine and Russia and all sorts of other things in the EU. But I think really what I'm looking at is, okay, if you just reason from first principles, what are the things that are obviously going to work? So obviously cash flow generating businesses are always going to be a thing. That's just never going to change.
I think land, gold, things of this nature, that people will flock to once they have abundance in capital, they'll still be very attractive. But then obviously that's also where store value assets like Zcash and Bitcoin will come in back to the play. Zcash is extremely tiny of an asset class. Bitcoin is getting all the attention due to Sailor right now. But I think Sailor is more of a red herring. He's just fun to troll, frankly, on Twitter. But I don't think it's really too much to do with him. I don't even think it's too much to do with Quantum. I think it's just capital rotation. And if your time horizon is at least two to three years, I think it's a great time to pick some stuff up on discount, which I'm not going to disclose everything that I'm buying, but certainly Zcash near Solana.
Hyperliquid is an interesting spot as well. And also just Bitcoin.

**Jennifer Sanasie** (4:29)
I want to see if you have a perspective on this. And it's okay if you don't. But everyone on X this morning is, I guess, shocked, feels upset, feels maybe misled by Arthur Hayes saying that he sold his full position in hype and near as someone who lives online, who also talks about this kind of thing. I mean, what's your takeaway? What's your reaction to what's been going on this morning?