Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood still sees bitcoin going to $500,000
by James · February 9, 2023
Despite bitcoin’s strong January, the cryptocurrency just suffered one of its biggest and longest moves in history. However, Ark Invest CEO and Chief Investment Officer Cathie Wood remains bullish on the cryptocurrency, continuing to bet that the price will eventually reach $500,000, she told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. Her outlook is even “a little higher than that.” “Starting with [the financial crisis of] 2008-2009, which was when bitcoin really debuted, and even more so after the crypto fallout of the past year [and] the collapse of many companies, this idea of transparency and decentralization is taking hold, and Bitcoin and Ethereum are the two best manifestations of that in the crypto world,” Wood said. Wood also said that Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of fallen crypto exchange FTX, whose alleged scams have rattled investors, “didn’t like bitcoin” and that his views ran counter to crypto’s pillars of decentralization and transparency. “Which companies went under? They were the highly centralized, opaque, opaque companies: FTX, Celsius, Three Arrows Capital,” Wood said. Whereas “if you look at what happened with Bitcoin, the network, and Ethereum, the network, they really didn’t skip a beat in that at all. Transactions were completed. All smart contracts opened and closed.” Wood is also a major investor in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, known by the ticker GBTC, through the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW). Investors have become concerned about the damage GBTC could do to shareholders, with its shares trading with an increasing discount to net asset value and the structure of the trust is such that shares cannot be redeemed. “There’s a huge discount there that will close at some point,” Wood said. “I have no idea. how the lawsuit will turn out. I think it’s good that this discussion is happening.” Last year, Grayscale sued the Securities and Exchange Commission over its decision to block the conversion of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to an exchange-traded fund. The DC Court of Appeals has scheduled oral arguments for March 7 . “The SEC has dragged its feet on a bitcoin ETF, while approving a bitcoin futures ETF — it just doesn’t make sense to us,” Wood added. “This discussion is going to be a very good one, and the news around the trial is going to be very good for bitcoin in general as more and more people start to understand bitcoin itself and GBTC in particular.” Wood just posted his best month ever as her favorite downbeat stocks staged a big comeback in the new year. Flagship Ark Innovation ETF ( ARKK ) jumped 3.7% on Tuesday, bringing its January return to 27.8% and marking its strongest month since its 2014 inception.
