CONNECT recap: Arthur Hayes on money printing, Wall Street moves onchain

At CONNECT by Cointelegraph in Seoul, Arthur Hayes argued that U.S. policymakers facing the need to finance AI data centers and service government debt could resort to money printing, a move he said would likely support crypto prices. He suggested that declining service prices and the massive capital needs of AI firms leave policymakers with limited options, and he also flagged the possibility of China moving from restrained policy to stronger monetary stimulus, which could boost demand for scarce assets. Hayes added he is watching financial stress in Europe, citing credit-default swaps linked to BNP Paribas and widening French government bond spreads.

Panels at the event examined how established financial firms are positioning themselves onchain. Catrina Wang of Portal Ventures argued that banks and asset managers have an advantage because they bring preexisting customer relationships to blockchain markets, invoking aggregation theory to explain why incumbents can capture the economics of new platforms. R3 co-founder Todd McDonald said public blockchains can extend institutions' reach beyond their native networks, noting R3s move to connect institutional assets to Solana.

Speakers also discussed the ongoing role of intermediaries despite crypto's promise to disintermediate finance. Justin Kugel of World Liberty Financial said many investors prefer intermediaries because they do not want to manage every asset decision themselves and value the perceived protection of centralized exchanges. That dynamic, he said, creates ongoing demand for middlemen to help allocate capital and assess risk in onchain markets.

On stablecoins and tokenized cash products, Franklin Templetons Chetan Karkhanis said the firm does not plan to launch its own stablecoin and prefers to offer tokenized money market funds as the yield layer for clients. He noted that subscriptions and redemptions for those funds still generally use fiat, though some stablecoin conversion options exist and need broader availability. Codex CEO Haonan Li described growing stablecoin payment demand along trade corridors connecting Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa with Asia, where funds flow primarily west-to-east to pay for manufactured goods moving the opposite direction.

Corporate treasuries and listed treasury firms facing crypto allocations also drew attention. FinHarbor CEO Ilya Podoynitsyn advised firms to ensure they have sufficient excess liquidity before committing cash to crypto, warning against copying peers without accounting for differences in balance sheets and liquidity needs. SharpLinks Michael Camarda outlined how listed treasury companies can increase ETH holdings per share either by buying Ether directly or repurchasing shares, saying buybacks may appeal more to institutional investors while headline Ether purchases attract retail attention.