5th June 2026 > > The quantum threat & Arthur Hayes.
- 18 minutes ago
- 3 min read
tl;dr
More information on the quantum threat to cryptos. Arthur Hayes is selling.
Market Snap
Market Wrap
Finally, the three-week daily outflows from the spot BTC ETFs totalling over $4bn since mid-May have been broken with a net inflow of just $3mm yesterday, which to be honest could easily be an error in collecting the data.
Michael Saylor, Chairman of Strategy, has his own take on the recent BTC sell-off:
“Capital markets are funding the AI buildout at historic scale: ~$400B over 6 months. Bitcoin ETFs have seen ~$4B of outflows since May 14, pressuring BTC. This is a capital rotation, not a Bitcoin impairment. Volatility creates opportunity.”
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – The Quantum Threat
The potential threat to BTC by quantum computers is seized upon by the naysayers, hoping that soon the whole crypto revolution collapses, forever sealing off an important avenue for individual privacy, freedom, and liberty in pursuit of their autocratic ideals. They are wrong.
I have come across two interesting pieces of work recently, one short and snappy, one lengthier and more considered. Both are well worth your time:
The first one is very similar to what the CCC has been saying for the longest time now.
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Arthur Hayes
In his latest essay, Arthur reveals he has sold his holdings of HYPE and NEAR, echoing Michael Saylor’s sentiments above:
If you follow the link, you will see a lot of X abuse directed at Arthur, abuse which is not warranted.
He has every right to talk his positions; he has every right to change his mind. Influencers on social media shilling coins they have been given for free is immoral and illegal. Building an investment case, investing hard cash on the back of that, then communicating the situation to the world is standard practice in the TradFi world for hedge funds, investment banks, and fund managers. Cryptos are no different in that respect.
Why is it that some people utterly resent the success of others?
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Arthur also reported today he has sold his entire ZEC (Zcash) position. ZEC is a privacy coin, a sector which has been on a tear of late. Trading at less than $50 in October 2025, it was trading at $620 just yesterday, a nice 12x in just eight months. Today, it has dropped 50% to $310 following the discovery of a vulnerability in Zcash’s Orchard privacy pool that may have allowed a malicious actor to mint fake ZEC:
Contract risk is not a new risk, but there is a twist here. Because of the privacy nature of Zcash, it is not possible to know if this flaw has been exploited or not – the stated maximum supply of 21mm ZEC may not be true.
This gets to the heart of the core issue with privacy coins – the blockchain is not transparent.
A few years ago, the CC Treasury did own some ZEC but that was sold for a small gain for the obvious reason that HMRC are going to be putting a lot of effort into investigating holders of privacy coins. Famously, the UK has the longest tax code in the world. Even seasoned tax lawyers unwittingly fall foul of its complexity that acts as a real drag on UK productivity, a problem that no politician of any stripe has the stomach to address. Given that honest errors in your annual tax return are a given, why would anyone invite greater scrutiny by investing in privacy coins?