Arthur Hayes Turns to Longevity: From Derivatives to Stem Cells and DeSci
Arthur Hayes, the billionaire co-founder of BitMEX, is shifting his attention from perpetual swaps to perpetual life as the market expert targets longevity science for mega growth.
Fresh off a presidential pardon by Donald Trump in March that erased his conviction for Bank Secrecy Act violations, Hayes has taken a board seat and major equity stake in a stem cell company where he has also been a patient.
Hayes told reporters he has been undergoing treatments at the firm’s clinics in Mexico and Bangkok for more than a year, underscoring his personal conviction in the longevity sector.
“I want to live as long as possible, as healthy as possible,” he said, noting that regulatory barriers around stem cell therapies are easing in several countries. The company, currently rebranding, has not yet been identified.
First Vitalik, Now Hayes: Crypto Wealth Funnels Into Longevity
Hayes is not alone. A growing number of crypto titans are redeploying fortunes made in digital assets into life-extension ventures:
Vitalik Buterin has funded the SENS Research Foundation and set up the Zuzalu “pop-up city” experiment in 2023 to incubate new approaches to anti-aging.
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, co-founded NewLimit, a cellular reprogramming startup that raised $130 million this year.
Balaji Srinivasan, former Coinbase CTO, co-founded Counsyl, a genomics startup that pioneered affordable screening for hereditary diseases.
This crossover between crypto and longevity reflects a broader conviction that both sectors share: breaking entrenched systems, whether financial infrastructure or biological inevitabilities.
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DeSci and the Rise of BIO Protocol: Is Decentralized Funding The Answer?
The pivot by Hayes also coincides with a revival in decentralized science (DeSci), where blockchain-based funding mechanisms are powering biomedical research once starved of capital.
Bio Protocol (BIO), the leading DeSci token, has recently surged 13% following its Bithumb listing, adding to momentum from earlier Binance inclusion and Ethereum-based staking mechanics.
BIO’s structure allows researchers and patients to coordinate through BioDAOs, directly funding areas like rare disease trials or brain health studies that traditional capital markets ignore.
Tokenomics link utility with results: intellectual property generated through BioDAOs can return royalties back to token holders, a closed-loop incentive system absent in conventional science funding.
Projects like VitaDAO and Armstrong-backed RSC are already channeling millions into longevity research, while on-chain “BioAgents” use AI simulations to generate and tokenize hypotheses, turning lab ideas into liquid, tradable intellectual property.
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From Perpetual Swaps to Perpetual Life
Hayes’ fund, Maelstrom, continues to support open-source Bitcoin development and digital asset treasuries, but his pivot signals a deeper trend: crypto’s early billionaires are no longer content with just reshaping markets, they want to reshape mortality itself.
With $800M+ in cumulative revenues already coursing through DeSci platforms like Pump.fun and BIO gaining traction across Asian exchanges, the financial infrastructure is beginning to align with the scientific ambition.
For Hayes, the next big bet may not be on market cycles but on biological ones. And just as BitMEX once set the tone for crypto derivatives, his stake in longevity could anchor the DeSci sector as the next trillion-dollar intersection between blockchain and science.
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