[Digital Today Seungah Yoo, intern reporter] Arthur Hayes (아서 헤이즈), co-founder of BitMEX, raised the possibility that bitcoin could reach $1 million in 2030, but picked ethereum as his most preferred cryptocurrency at present.

On Sept. 2 (local time), Cointelegraph reported that Hayes recently appeared on the 'Trade Secrets' podcast and said bitcoin has the conditions to reach a seven-digit price within the next 4 years. He added that ethereum is more attractive as an asset for deploying new funds now.

Hayes cited an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble burst, a large-scale expansion of the money supply, and the possibility of U.S. yield curve control as factors behind a rise in bitcoin. He said, "All the ingredients are there. Now is the time." He said it is highly likely bitcoin formed a bottom around $58,000 and will then rise gradually.

While maintaining a bullish long-term outlook for bitcoin, he rated ethereum higher on short-term risk-reward. Hayes called ethereum his "number one choice" and said it offers better risk-reward for new money than Hyperliquid (HYPE). He also said ethereum could rise "3 to 5 times fairly quickly."

Hayes cited ethereum's role as the base layer for decentralised finance (DeFi) as a key reason. He said ethereum has long been shunned by the market for several reasons and has been depressed for a long time, so it is now time for it to rise. He noted that ethereum also jumped 20 percent as bitcoin rose and said, "Now it's time to move."

He said HYPE has less upside than in the past. Hayes said, "Now everyone knows Hyperliquid exists," adding it is no longer an unknown asset that can exceed market expectations. While acknowledging the price could rise further, he said market expectations are already high and that for Maelstrom, the investment firm he runs, other assets such as ethereum offer better risk-reward for allocating funds.

There was also pushback against the $1 million bitcoin call for 2030. Markus Thielen (마르쿠스 틸렌), head of research at 10X Research, argued on the same podcast that reaching that price is "mathematically impossible." He said that given the amount of capital that flowed in over the past 15 years for bitcoin to rise to its current price, it is hard to expect the additional trillions of dollars in inflows needed to reach $1 million within the next 4 years.

Hayes also said comments or actions by U.S. President Donald Trump do not have much impact on cryptocurrency prices. He said investors should pay attention to moves by the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve and monetary authorities rather than Trump.

He also questioned whether Trump would spend political capital to pass crypto-related legislation including the CLARITY Act. He said crypto bills may not be a more important issue for the average voter than other pending matters.

BitMEX, which Hayes co-founded, will end exchange operations on Sept. 23. BitMEX urged users to close positions and withdraw funds before the shutdown. The company said it decided to end exchange operations after considering a strategic review and the cryptocurrency industry environment.

Hayes described the closure of BitMEX as "landing on our own terms" and said he viewed positively that the business was wrapped up based on its own judgment. He said running a cryptocurrency exchange without having the scale of major operators such as Binance and OKX is not easy because competition is excessively fierce. He said high costs are required for security, technology infrastructure and data centre operations, which hurts business viability.

Ultimately, Hayes' outlook distinguishes between bitcoin's long-term upside potential and ethereum's short-term upside. While raising the possibility of bitcoin reaching $1 million in 2030 on the back of expanding money supply and changes in the macroeconomic environment, he judged that for actual fund allocation now, ethereum offers higher risk-reward.