Maelstrom, the family office of Arthur Hayes, aims to spend $250M to buy 6 mid-sized crypto companies, with an emphasis on blockchain infrastructure and analytics.

The family office of Arthur Hayes, Maelstrom, is raising more than $250 million out of a proposed aggressive private equity fund. 

The fund will take the form of buying four to six mid-sized crypto firms as a trading infrastructure and analytics services. 

Maelstrom is planning to allocate between 40-75 million on each acquisition, which is a major step in the cryptocurrency investing arena after the FTX collapse.​

Maelstrom was co-founded by Arthur Hayes, the pioneer of the BitMEX derivatives exchange. Its new fund, Maelstrom Equity Fund I, is expected to provide founders with cash-heavy, clean exits at fair values. 

It is also a strategy that has a significant focus on equity investments over token holding, with a focus on companies that have steady cash flow and not speculative investments that are made with tokens. 

According to Co-founder and Managing Partner Akshat Vaidya, this focus makes the acquisition process easier as it eliminates the overvalued token valuations.​

A New Era for Crypto Private Equity

Maelstrom shifting to private equity after years of token-based venture capital is a positive sign of a more cautious and mature attitude toward crypto investment. 

The fund will do the deals via special purpose vehicles (SPVs), which are set to be concluded from March to September 2026. 

The venture is organized by Hayes and investment partner Adam Schlegel, with institutional investors, such as pension funds and family offices, requiring scaled crypto exposure.​

This was launched during a revival in crypto M&A, led by $1.1 billion Stripe acquisition of Bridge, the Ripple acquisition of Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, and the Coinbase purchase of Deribit at 2.9 billion. 

Maelstrom focuses on companies that are integrated into blockchain services, such as trading infrastructure and data analytics startups. 

It focuses on cash flow positive companies that provide flanking crypto market activities.​

The fund is planning to take advantage of the increasing investor interest in scalable risk-adjusted exposure to crypto due to confidence in the market value recovery and the maturity of the industry. 

According to Vaidya on X, capital deployers are interested in large and clean crypto investments, which the structured equity fund proposed by Maelstrom intends to provide.​

Arthur Hayes: From BitMEX to Crypto Investor

The success of Maelstrom’s strategic positioning can be aligned with the shift of Arthur Hayes, the co-founder of BitMEX, to a powerful crypto investor. 

Hayes is a well-known innovator of perpetual swaps and an influence on such projects as the synthetic dollar by Ethena, which is transforming crypto investment into a long-term portfolio. 

Maelstrom is a mixture of venture capital and private equity, actively trading in both the public and private markets.​

In addition to acquisitions, Maelstrom promotes the development of cryptocurrencies through a Bitcoin grant program, which underscores the fact that Hayes is still interested in developing the ecosystem. 

The company stands out as the place where old-fashioned finance is merged with innovative blockchain services, and the company looks to create sustainable value beyond the hype.​