Arthur Hayes Sold HYPE and NEAR, Mert Mumtaz Says That’s Missing the Point
Speakers
Mert Mumtaz
— CEO, Helius
Summary
Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius, discusses his 'shield and chill' strategy for crypto investing with a 2–3 year horizon. He is bullish on Zcash, Solana, Hyperliquid, and Bitcoin, citing privacy, entrepreneurial ecosystem, exchange disruption, and capital rotation. He dismisses short-term noise and Arthur Hayes' trading drama, advising independent thinking.
- Mert advises ignoring short-term noise and focusing on a 2–3 year investment horizon.
- He is buying Zcash for its privacy-enhanced store-of-value thesis.
- He views Solana as the best chain for entrepreneurs, calling it the 'Silicon Valley of finance'.
- He sees Hyperliquid as an undervalued decentralized exchange competitor to Binance and Robinhood.
- He believes Bitcoin's transparency is a long-term vulnerability but still a valid store-of-value play via capital rotation.
- He expects the Clarity Act to be a major regulatory catalyst for the crypto industry.
- He criticizes copy trading and emphasizes the importance of independent research and conviction.
- He notes institutional capital rotating from crypto to AI IPOs is a temporary cycle.
Trade Ideas
Privacy store of value with fungibility.
Bitcoin's transparency is a vulnerability in the age of AI because transactions can be linked through KYC and network analysis, leading to exponential information leakage. Zcash provides privacy as a complementary store of value, enabling fungibility, quantum proofing, and cross-chain privacy. It targets offshore wealth seekers who need extreme privacy, representing a separate branch of the store-of-value tree that Bitcoin cannot cover.
Best chain for entrepreneurs and founders.
Solana is the best chain for entrepreneurs and founders due to its proven scalability, vast user base, and track record of hosting billion-dollar apps like Pump.fun, Jupiter, and Jito. It serves as the 'Silicon Valley of finance,' allowing anyone to build financial rails. The entrepreneurial cycle and upcoming Clarity Act will accelerate adoption, making Solana undervalued on a multi-year horizon.
Exchange competitor undervalued long term.
Hyperliquid is fundamentally an exchange-esque product competing with centralized exchanges like Binance and Robinhood. Its core perps markets (HLP3, trade.xyz) drive the vast majority of activity, and it will be extremely undervalued in the long term as it captures market share from traditional and centralized exchanges.
Store of value due capital rotation.
Bitcoin is a store-of-value asset that will benefit from capital rotation away from AI IPOs and other hot sectors over a 2–3 year horizon. Despite short-term noise and Saylor's influence, the fundamental capital rotation thesis supports holding Bitcoin as part of a 'shield and chill' strategy.
