In the coming war between digital currencies, which side will your money be on? If that question sounds crazy, meet Arthur Hayes, a former CitiGroup trader who runs BitMEX, a Hong Kong-based crypto exchange that allows eye-bulging leverage – up to 100 times – when buying and selling cryptocurrency derivatives.

Not just another Wall Street veteran, Hayes may also be one of the industry's biggest bitcoin bulls. It's a bold claim, but you might agree if you saw his newsletter – a regular synthesis of cryptocurrency news, gangster quotes, GIFs and end-of-the-world premonitions. In fact, Hayes thinks blockchain is lighting a fuse that will ignite open combat between "true cryptocurrencies" (like bitcoin) and a new "digital fiat" controlled by central banks.

These two parallel currency systems are the inevitable outcome of his core investing thesis: "A digital society needs digital cash." In other words, bitcoin has brought the world cryptocurrency and institutions of all kinds will use the technology to their advantage.

Here's what Hayes sees shaking out as a result: Governments will respond to the proliferation of cryptocurrency by withdrawing banknotes from circulation, and governments will issue digital fiat that functions similarly to cryptocurrency.
But don't be fooled, according to Hayes, the similarities here are all on the surface.

Government-controlled digital fiat will be the antithesis of absolutely everything true cryptocurrency stands for. Central bank's issuance of digital money will lead to a brave new world where governments are able to monitor and control every single transaction in an economy. And countering that overreach is the reason Hayes believes bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have a value proposition not just today, but for years to come.