On January 10, Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, joined Liz Claman on Fox Business to discuss the recent developments surrounding the U.S. SEC’s recent approval of multiple spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Wood recounted her reaction to the false approval news of spot Bitcoin ETFs on the SEC’s hacked Twitter account. She was initially confused by the mixed signals but later realized it was a hoax.
Claman mentioned a report by Standard Chartered that estimated that this year we would see $50-$100 billion in inflows for these new ETFs.
On January 8, Standard Chartered’s Global Research department, led by Geoff Kendrick and Suki Cooper, released a research note titled “Bitcoin – Price upside from US spot ETF approval.” The note anticipates the SEC’s likely approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs as a crucial event that could mainstream Bitcoin among institutional investors and trigger significant inflows and price surges.
Drawing parallels with the first U.S.-based gold ETP in 2004, which led to a quadrupling of gold prices in about seven to eight years, Standard Chartered predicts a similar or even more accelerated impact on Bitcoin prices due to the spot ETFs. They project a more rapid price appreciation for Bitcoin, expecting it to reach $100,000 by the end of 2024. This projection is based on the faster evolution expected in the Bitcoin ETF market compared to gold.
Looking further, the note forecasts Bitcoin potentially hitting around $200,000 by the end of 2025, assuming substantial ETF-related inflows. This prediction is contingent on the assumption that U.S. spot ETFs will hold between 437,000 and 1.32 million new bitcoins by the end of 2024, amounting to an inflow of about $50-100 billion.
Wood explained ARK’s decision to cut fees to 0.21 basis points after $1 billion in investment, emphasizing their commitment to providing access to Bitcoin as a public good and a new asset class. Wood highlighted Bitcoin’s significance as a technology and a new asset class, integral to ARK’s mission of democratization and access. She reflected on ARK’s early adoption of Bitcoin in 2015 and its commitment to staying engaged with the cryptocurrency.
Addressing ARK’s recent sale of Coinbase shares, Wood explained it as a standard portfolio management practice. After a significant price increase in Coinbase, ARK reallocated assets to other opportunities, particularly in the multiomics space.
On 26 Dec 2023, Wood gave an interview to CNBC, in which she had to say about the institutional interest in the U.S. for a spot Bitcoin ETF:
“Institutions don’t want to bother with custodying and tax issues and other infrastructure. They just want to be able to access quickly Bitcoin and other digital assets, we think, longer term. And so, if we’re right, a spot Bitcoin ETF will be the most liquid way to access exposure to Bitcoin. And I think that that liquidity and the ability to move in and out quickly is going to be important to institutions.“
