Major fund manager issues chilling World War 3 warning

Major fund manager issues chilling World War 3 warning originally appeared on TheStreet.

Global traders might be sleep-walking into the next major conflict, according to Maelstrom managing partner and co-founder Akshat Vaidya.

In an interview with TheStreet Roundtable, Vaidya argued that equity and crypto markets are adapting so gradually to near-constant geopolitical shocks that they no longer price in the true risk of war.

Maelstrom is a venture fund managed by the family office of Arthur Hayes — co-founder of BitMEX — building a long-term portfolio of venture-stage infrastructure companies powering decentralization.

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“If you look at World War I, World War II, nobody knew they were in them until two, three, four years in,” Vaidya said. “We don’t think we’re in World War III yet. In two years, we might look back and realize we’ve been in World War III since Russia, Ukraine.”

He likened markets to crustaceans dropped into a slow-heating pot. “They only realize they’re boiling once their flesh starts disintegrating,” he said, noting that today’s investors brushed off last week’s missile strikes on Iran despite their once-unthinkable scale. “The Twitter-in-chief said there’s a ceasefire, so whatever. Nobody cares anymore.”

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Vaidya called crypto “a new nascent asset class” that keeps receiving “something very pro-crypto out of DC,” from draft stablecoin rules to regulator guidance. That policy tailwind, he believes, makes digital assets more resilient than stocks over the next few years.

Still, he expects both arenas to remain “very volatile” and “choppy,” a pattern that favors exchanges and arbitrage funds hunting for spreads.

Yet one flashpoint still scares him. “I’m not too worried about geopolitics, set aside China – Taiwan,” he said. “That’s where it’s going to really feel like World War III, if it happens.”

For now, Vaidya sees investors growing accustomed to crises that once triggered global sell-offs. But he warns the next escalation could finally prove too hot for complacent markets to ignore.

Major fund manager issues chilling World War 3 warning first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 27, 2025

This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 27, 2025, where it first appeared.