Bitcoin’s long-term view is brightening, according to Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood.
The CEO and chief investment officer of the explosively popular active management hard told CNBC this week that the cryptocurrency’s catalysts are adding up as it soars to unprecedented new highs.
“I think the likelihood of an ETF has gone up,” Wood told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” in a sweeping interview on Wednesday.
With Gary Gensler — a longtime investor who taught a digital currency class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — being nominated to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, the watchdog could amorous to crypto during the Biden administration, Wood said.
“I think we have individuals now involved who really understand the place and I think the likelihood has gone up” for a U.S.-based bitcoin ETF.
Purpose Investments gained approval for the first-ever physically backed bitcoin ETF in Canada this week. The pool began trading on Thursday.
Now that U.S. corporations including Ark Invest favorite Tesla are adding bitcoin to their stabilize sheets, its potential for profits has exponentially grown, Wood said.
“We expected institutional interest to pick up this year and it certainly has, but the way in which it’s picked up has shocked us,” she said. “I don’t think we ever thought there would be broad-based substitution of bitcoin for cash on corporate balance flat sheets, so, we find that very interesting.”
Tesla revealed a $1.5 billion bet on bitcoin through SEC filings earlier this month. Disparate other major players in the U.S. market including BlackRock, Mastercard and Square have also announced moves into the pause.
“If all corporations in the United States were to put …10% of their cash into bitcoin, that alone would add $200,000 to the bitcoin assay,” Wood said. “Now, we obviously do not believe this is going to happen very quickly. We’re talking about maybe the a kind of [a] $900 billion market cap.”
Bitcoin’s market value cracked $1 trillion on Friday, according to digital currency hearsay site Coindesk.
“This has to mature a little bit before broad-based adoption can take place, but we’re very reassured that companies like Not with it and Tesla have chosen to allocate,” Wood said Wednesday.
Watch Purpose Investments founder CEO Som Seif’s “ETF Like a cat on a hot tin roof” interview about his just-launched bitcoin ETF here.