• Cathie Wood highlights crypto’s pivotal role in US politics for the 2024 presidential elections, attributing the swift approval of the spot Ethereum ETF by the SEC to this trend.
• Wood reaffirms ARK Invest’s commitment to making Bitcoin accessible to a wider audience through the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF.

Crypto market proponent and ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood stated that crypto has now taken the center-stage in US politics for the 2024 presidential elections. This was typically the reason behind the swift approval of the spot Ethereum ETF by the SEC last week.

In an interview with Peter McCormack at the Consensus 2024 event, Wood said:

“The read was it was not going to be approved. It was absolutely not going to be approved. If it were to have been approved the regular way, we would have been getting questions from the SEC. No one was getting questions from the SEC beforehand.”

Wood, who serves as the firm’s chief investment officer, noted that sentiment has shifted regarding the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) in the House. The act, which passed last week with bipartisan support, indicates that it could become a significant election-year issue.

“The other thing that happened was former President Trump had become much more cozy with bitcoin and crypto generally. That week, he said he would accept campaign donations in crypto,” also led to growing attention from the administration, said Wood. As reported by Crypto News Flash, President Donald Trump holds $2 million worth of Ethereum and $7 million worth of TRUMP coins in his portfolio.

Wood also mentioned that while a Solana ETF could receive approval, funds focused on meme coins are unlikely to pass. This is because large brokerage firms and investment advisory companies, known as wirehouses, would only consider approving the more established cryptocurrencies.

Cathie Wood on Making Bitcoin ETF Accessible

Cathie Wood, Chief Investment Officer at ARK Invest, reaffirmed the firm’s stance that Bitcoin (BTC) is a public good. Wood highlighted that the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, approved in January with a minimal fee of 0.21%, is not designed for profit. she stated:

“We should make [the ETF]as accessible as possible to as many people as possible, so keep the fee very low,”

Additionally, Wood announced that ARK will allocate a portion of its private fund revenues to support Bitcoin developers. This initiative aims to ensure consistent backing for developers, irrespective of the ETF’s profitability.

Renowned for her bullish outlook on Bitcoin, Cathie Wood forecasts that the price of BTC could surge to $1.5 million by 2030, dubbing it a “financial superhighway.” Despite the recent momentum surrounding Ether (ETH) due to advancements in approving Ether ETFs, Wood remains steadfast in her preference for Bitcoin when asked to choose between Bitcoin and Ether.

“Bitcoin, hands down. No question about it. It is a global monetary system. It is a technology, and it is a new asset class. Those are three big ideas in one, and nothing else in the crypto world is competing with it,” she said.