“The Significance of Storytelling: Arthur Hayes Emphasizes that Technicality Takes a Backseat, Success of Projects Lies in the Ability to Tell Stories”
BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes, through his article titled “Chief Story Officer,” explores how humans handle uncertainty and the importance of narratives in investment decisions. He emphasizes that investors in the cryptocurrency field are more concerned with compelling and influential stories rather than technical or factual trends.
Contents:
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Hayes: We are all speculators
Hayes: It’s not about technology, it’s about the story
Hayes: I am the Maelstrom “Chief Story Officer”
From “doubt” to “optimism”
Implication of the altcoin season?
Hayes: I will continue telling stories, whether you buy it or not
Arthur Hayes, following his strong criticism of Cardano (ADA) tokens yesterday, subsequently released an article called “Chief Story Officer,” explaining the importance of narratives in the crypto market, often surpassing the importance of technology itself. He has also shifted his focus to altcoins.
(BitMEX founder slams ADA as shit, tells Charles Hoskinson: Go buy some ETH)
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The article first mentions the claim that people are all speculators, believing that everyone’s brain constantly constructs a probability map of the environment and makes decisions based on perceived probabilities of various outcomes rather than objective facts:
Since we cannot accurately estimate the probabilities of each variable and data, our decisions often follow the opinions and behaviors of others.
Hayes claims that the above argument can also be applied to the crypto market, believing that investors often rely on the evaluations of others and the spread of stories to make investment decisions. Therefore, the importance of narratives must exceed the technology itself:
The story behind a token or project is often more important than the technology because the general public finds it difficult to evaluate the superiority of technology, but they can easily understand the quality of a story.
He adds, “It is the story that shapes investors’ perception of a specific token, not objective facts or the value of technology. Therefore, a successful story can drive the price of a token to rise.”
In this regard, Hayes mentions his position as the Chief Story Officer of Maelstrom. He jokingly suggests changing it to “Chief Story Officer”:
I am responsible for telling stories. The more concise and compelling a story is, the faster it spreads. The wider the story spreads, the more the token related to that story can appreciate in value.
He explains that the purpose of packaging projects with narratives is to influence the emotions and behaviors of investors, using himself as an example:
I would rather invest in a token with a perceived success probability of 0.01%, but its story is rapidly spreading like a virus, rather than a token with a perceived success probability of 50%, but its story has already reached a stage where it is widely known by the public.
Hayes emphasizes that when his company, Maelstrom, invests in crypto projects, it is important to determine which project has the best probability of success in terms of narratives. This probability is related to the widespread dissemination of narratives, including macro narratives (industry trends, etc.) and micro narratives (the project’s competitive advantages):
By raising investors’ expectations of a certain project from “never possible to succeed” to “possibly successful,” the maximum investment return can be achieved.
In other words, a good investment is when a team can transform investors’ view of their project from “doubt” to “optimism” through telling an engaging story, which leads to the widespread dissemination of the story and increases the likelihood of success.
Furthermore, with the recent approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF by the United States and the highly anticipated potential Ethereum spot ETF event, Hayes believes that these narratives and market sentiments will continue to drive up the prices of these two assets. He himself will prioritize his attention on altcoins (Shitcoins):
I already hold BTC and ETH, and I may continue to buy more, but overall, I am shifting my focus to altcoins.
At the end of the article, Hayes also states that in the future, his published articles will focus on the tokens that Maelstrom holds or has already launched or will soon launch, and he will continue to spread token information far and wide through narratives:
I don’t care whether you have traded any of the tokens I mentioned or not. What I care about is whether I have provided compelling stories and supporting arguments that will make you actively discuss them with others.
He also reveals the topics he will discuss in the future related to crypto projects:
dYdX
GMX
Pendle
Krav
Elixir
Flare
Ethena
Axelar
Arthur Hayes
BitMEX
Shitcoin
Ethereum ETF
Altcoins
Narrative
Bitcoin ETF
Further reading:
Michael Saylor: Demand for Bitcoin spot ETF is 10 times the supply, will continue to buy Bitcoin
Bitcoin surpasses silver to become the second-largest ETF in the U.S. in just five days, second only to gold
