Arthur Hayes Argues New Fed Liquidity Tool “rmp” Masks Renewed...
The BitMEX co-founder's latest Substack essay argues the US Fed’s liquidity program mirrors quantitative easing mechanics that favor Bitcoin and other scarce assets.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder and former CEO of crypto exchange BitMEX, argued in a Substack essay published Friday that the Federal Reserve’s new “reserve management purchases” (RMP) program is effectively a rebranded form of quantitative easing.
Hayes argues that by buying short-term Treasury bills and recycling liquidity through money markets, the Fed is effectively financing government spending while avoiding the political stigma of quantitative easing, even as officials frame the program as a technical liquidity operation.
Hayes said policies like RMP expand fiat liquidity and, in his view, favor scarce assets such as Bitcoin, gold and silver.
At the same time, he warned that people without assets are harmed, as money creation erodes purchasing power, weakens wages relative to prices and shifts wealth toward asset holders.
“Unfortunately, in the here and now for most of humanity, money printing destroys their dignity as productive humans,” he wrote. “When the government intentionally debases the currency, it destroys the link between energy inputs and economic outputs.”
Related: Bitcoin rebounds on Japan rate hike as Arthur Hayes sees dollar at 200 yen
On Dec. 10, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) cut interest rates by 25 basis points and announced purchases of short-term Treasury securities, a move Fed Chair Jerome Powell said was “solely for the purpose of maintaining an ample supply of reserves” and separate from the stance of monetary policy.
The Fed said the purchases would initially total about $40 billion in the first month and could remain elevated for several months to ease near-term pressures in money markets, particularly around seasonal fluctuations such as tax payments.
Despite the interest rate cut and the announcement of short-term Treasury purchases, analysts said mixed signals from Powell were likely to dampen a sustained Bitcoin rally until the rate-cutting cycle resumes in 2026.
Source: CoinTelegraph
