Ark Invest CIO Cathie Wood believes Bitcoin will one day be a US$20 trillion asset. In this interview, she explains how ETFs and the halving event are boosting Bitcoin’s price expectations. Video / Carson Bluck
The manager of the third-largest Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States, Cathie Wood, believes the price of one coin could go “well above” US$1 million.
“Think about how many people know about the halving this time around, when they didn’t even know what Bitcoin was four years ago,” Ark Invest’s chief investment officer told Markets with Madison.
Bitcoin’s price rallied to US$68,342 ($111,401) this week, an increase of about 50 per cent year to date, likely driven by the launch of spot price ETFs and in anticipation of next month’s halving event.
Only 21 million Bitcoin would ever be issued, but the cap on daily mining production would soon be cut in half from 900 to 450 - both were features hard-coded into the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin halving events had historically boosted its price, Wood said, and supply was even tighter this time around.
“What we have going for us this time is the financial markets. When you’ve got the entire ETF infrastructure out there ready to arbitrage these sorts of events, we may pull forward the price increase and accelerate the transition.”
Ark’s 21Shares Bitcoin ETF had seen more than US$2 billion flow into it since it launched in January.
In total, Bitcoin ETFs - including the biggest owned, by BlackRock - held about 4 per cent of the 19.6 million Bitcoin currently on the market, Wood said - a value of about US$50b at the current price.
Ark Invest founder, chief executive and chief investment officer Cathie Wood is known for her bullish calls on Bitcoin and Tesla.
She forecast Bitcoin one day being an asset class worth US$20 trillion if more financial institutions looked to adopt it and recommend it to clients - despite some already refusing to, such as Vanguard.
“Institutions have a fiduciary responsibility to at least look at it, and if they want to dismiss it, fine.”
Watch Cathie Wood explain her bullish price target for Bitcoin and why she’s selling Coinbase and Nvidia stock in today’s episode of Markets with Madison above.
At the end of 2023, Ark’s headline Disruptive Innovation Fund’s five largest holdings were Coinbase, Roku, Tesla, Zoom and Square. It made an annual return of 67.35 per cent in a positive year for international technology stocks.
Nikko Asset Management is the distributor of Ark’s fund in New Zealand.
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Disclaimer: The information provided in this programme is of a general nature and is not intended to be personalised financial advice. We encourage you to seek appropriate advice from a qualified professional to suit your individual circumstances.
Madison Reidy is the host of the NZ Herald’s investment show Markets with Madison. She joined the Herald in 2022 after working in investment, and has covered business and economics for television and radio broadcasters.
