What Maelstrom does

Maelstrom is a Hong Kong-headquartered, crypto-focused family office and multi-strategy investment fund founded in 2022 by Arthur Hayes — co-founder and former CEO of BitMEX — and Akshat Vaidya, the firm's Managing Partner. The firm operates four investment vehicles: Venture (early-stage equity and token investments in crypto infrastructure), Liquid (directional trading and hedging of liquid crypto positions under the "Maelstrom Liquid" brand), Private Equity (acquiring mid-sized crypto infrastructure and analytics firms through "Maelstrom Equity," currently raising a $250 million fund targeting 4–6 acquisitions at $40M–$75M each), and Public Markets (publicly listed digital-asset equities and crypto vehicles). It also runs the Bitcoin Grant Program, providing $50,000–$150,000 per developer annually to Bitcoin Core contributors across Payjoin, Silent Payments, and P2P privacy work.

The portfolio spans roughly 30+ companies across DeFi, liquid staking, restaking, decentralized compute, chain abstraction, and the AI–crypto intersection, including Ethena, EtherFi, Pendle, Nillion, Aethir, Solayer, Rio Network, Quasar, Obol, GenLayer, and recently the Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), River, Paxos Labs, and Neuramint. The firm operates without a proprietary software platform; its technology footprint consists of its website (maelstrom.fund), a consumer wallet product (OurWallet), and deal-management systems internal to the fund.

Maelstrom's business model is that of a single-family office deploying founder capital across multiple strategies, supplemented by a small team of investment professionals (8 named individuals) sourced from BitMEX, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, McKinsey, Haveli Investments, Baring Private Equity Asia, and EY Consulting. Customer-facing distribution relies almost entirely on Arthur Hayes' personal brand — a Substack (cryptohayes), an 800,000-follower X account, podcast appearances on Bankless, Decrypt, Unchained, The Chopping Block, and Wolf of All Streets, and keynote appearances at conferences such as Bitcoin Las Vegas 2026.

Name

Maelstrom

Legal name

Maelstrom

Website

https://maelstrom.fund

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Maelstrom is a Hong Kong-based crypto-focused family office founded by Arthur Hayes (BitMEX co-founder) and Akshat Vaidya in 2022, operating across venture, liquid trading, private equity, and public market strategies with a portfolio of 30+ crypto-infrastructure companies and a Bitcoin Core developer grant program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Crypto Investment Management

NAICS

Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525), Other Financial Vehicles (525990)

SIC

Finance Services (6199), Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)

akta.pro primary industry

Active Crypto Asset Managers (Discretionary) (FSADAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Infrastructure & Project Finance Tokenization (FSADAEAF)

Keywords

• Crypto venture capital
• Digital asset investment
• Blockchain infrastructure funding
• Crypto private equity
• Family office fund

Headquarters

HQ city

Hong Kong

HQ country

Hong Kong SAR China

HQ region

Asia

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Venture Investments: Early-stage equity and token investments in crypto infrastructure companies. Returns generated through portfolio company growth, token appreciation, and eventual exit.
2. Liquid Trading: Trading and hedging of liquid crypto positions including Bitcoin, altcoins, and token holdings. Active portfolio management of liquid assets.
3. Private Equity Acquisitions: Maelstrom is raising a $250M PE fund to acquire mid-sized crypto infrastructure and analytics firms, targeting 4-6 companies at $40M-$75M per acquisition, focusing on cash-flow positive off-chain businesses.
4. Public Market Positions: Investment in public liquid crypto assets and companies in the digital asset space.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Maelstrom is a multi-strategy crypto investment family office that deploys capital across Venture (early-stage equity and token investments in crypto infrastructure), Liquid (directional trading and hedging of liquid crypto positions), Private Equity (acquisitions of profitable off-chain crypto infrastructure and analytics firms), and Public Markets (publicly listed digital assets). The firm also operates the Bitcoin Grant Program, which provides 12-month developer grants of $50,000–$150,000 to support Bitcoin Core technical development, and maintains the OurWallet cryptocurrency wallet product.

Product overview

Maelstrom is a multi-strategy crypto investment family office managed by Arthur Hayes (co-founder of BitMEX). The firm operates across four investment strategies: Venture (early-stage equity and token investments), Liquid (trading and hedging of liquid crypto positions), Private Equity (acquiring crypto infrastructure companies), and Public Markets (publicly listed crypto assets). Additionally, Maelstrom operates the Bitcoin Grant Program, which provides 12-month grants of $50,000-$150,000 per developer to support Bitcoin Core technical development. The firm does not offer a unified software platform with modules—its 'products' are investment strategies and the grant program, not software offerings.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Bitcoin Grant Program: A grant program supporting Bitcoin Core developers with full-time funding for Bitcoin technical development, grants ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 per developer per year
• Maelstrom Liquid
• Maelstrom Equity
• OurWallet

Products and services

• Maelstrom Venture Early-stage equity and token investments in crypto infrastructure companies building DeFi protocols, trading infrastructure, blockchain networks, and analytics platforms. Returns generated through portfolio company growth, token appreciation, and eventual exits. For crypto founders and protocol teams seeking strategic capital.
• Maelstrom Liquid Liquid trading and hedging strategy that manages and trades liquid crypto positions including Bitcoin, altcoins, and token holdings for the fund. Active portfolio management of liquid assets.
• Maelstrom Equity (Private Equity Fund) Private equity acquisitions of mid-sized cash-flow positive crypto infrastructure and analytics firms. The $250M fund targets 4–6 acquisitions at $40M–$75M per company, focusing on non-token equity deals based on cash flows from off-chain crypto businesses.
• Maelstrom Public Markets Investment in publicly listed crypto assets and companies in the digital asset space, complementing the fund's venture and PE strategies with liquid public positions.
• Bitcoin Grant Program A grant initiative providing full-time funding of $50,000–$150,000 per year to Bitcoin Core developers working on improving Bitcoin's technical development, resilience, scalability, censorship resistance, and privacy. Grants are paid monthly in BTC, USDC, or USDT. For open-source Bitcoin protocol developers.
• OurWallet Cryptocurrency wallet product associated with the Maelstrom family office.

Quantifiable outcome

• Invented the perpetual swap, the most widely traded crypto financial product of all time
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Bitcoin Core DevelopmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMaelstrom funds Bitcoin Core development through its Bitcoin Grant Program, providing 12-month grants of $50,000-$150,000 per developer paid monthly in BTC, USDC, or USDT. The program supports developers working on Bitcoin Core including Payjoin, Silent Payments, P2P network privacy, and other technical improvements. Grant stacking permitted up to $400,000/year.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Paradigm: Paradigm is a leading crypto-native investment firm focused on early-stage crypto and DeFi protocols. Like Maelstrom, it concentrates on crypto infrastructure, participates in similar rounds (e.g., co-invested in ZODL), and competes for the same founder relationships and deal flow.
• Dragonfly Capital: Dragonfly is a crypto-focused venture firm that invests across DeFi, infrastructure, and CeFi — overlapping directly with Maelstrom's Venture and Liquid strategies. It has co-invested with Maelstrom (e.g., in Ethena) and targets the same crypto founder pool.
• Pantera Capital: Pantera runs a multi-strategy crypto fund spanning venture, liquid token, and bitcoin fund strategies — a direct analog to Maelstrom's four-strategy model. Both firms target institutional LPs seeking diversified crypto exposure.
• Multicoin Capital: Multicoin is a thesis-driven crypto investment firm that invests in early-stage crypto protocols and runs a liquid hedge fund. It competes with Maelstrom for the same deal flow in DeFi, restaking, and crypto infrastructure.
• Polychain Capital: Polychain is an early crypto-native venture and liquid fund focused on protocol-level investments. It is a direct competitor to Maelstrom's Venture and Liquid strategies and participates in similar funding rounds.
• Electric Capital: Electric Capital is a crypto-native venture firm investing across DeFi, infrastructure, and consumer crypto. It is a similarly sized direct peer competing for early-stage crypto deals and limited partner capital.

Broad incumbents

• Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto): a16z crypto is a large generalist VC with a dedicated crypto practice that has co-invested with Maelstrom (e.g., in ZODL). It is a much larger and broader incumbent, but competes for the same institutional crypto deal flow.
• Coinbase Ventures: Coinbase Ventures is the corporate venture arm of Coinbase and invests broadly across crypto infrastructure. It has co-invested with Maelstrom (e.g., in ZODL) and serves as a broad incumbent competitor for both deal flow and strategic capital partnerships.
• Galaxy Digital: Galaxy Digital is a publicly traded crypto financial services and asset management firm that runs venture, trading, and asset management strategies. Its multi-strategy platform overlaps with Maelstrom's full-stack model, though Galaxy is a much larger, public incumbent.

Regional players

• Hashed: Hashed is a leading crypto-focused venture fund based in Asia. It is a regional peer with comparable investment strategies in crypto infrastructure and DeFi, though it primarily serves Asian markets and founders.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MaelstromFund
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/maelstromfund

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments45 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Maelstrom