Ark Invest's Cathie Wood doubles the prediction: Bitcoin to $ 500.000

Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Investment Management, predicts that the price of bitcoin will exceed $ 500.000 in five years, which is more than 10 times what it is today. He also shared his views on cryptocurrency regulation and Coinbase's problems with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest predicts Bitcoin at 500k

Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Investment Management (NASDAQ shares : Ark Invest), discussed bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulation in an interview at the SALT conference on Monday. Wood is also the founder and CIO of the company.

She was asked how much bitcoin will be worth in five years. Wood replied: "If we are right and companies continue to diversify their cash into something like bitcoin, institutional investors start allocating 5% of their funds in ... bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies," we believe the price will be ten times higher. at present, so instead of $ 45.000, [it would be] over $ 500.000 ”.

Wood also commented on the regulation of cryptocurrencies. Based on his meeting with state, local and federal regulators, he said, "Our working assumption from the start was that ... no regulator wanted to be blamed for preventing the next big technological breakthrough in the United States."

He went on to say that he is "very happy" that the president of the SEC, Gary Gensler, "understands cryptocurrencies and understands the merits of bitcoin in particular." However, he noted, "It's a regulator though and it's a hardcore regulator."

The topic moved to Coinbase

Ark Invest's CEO then spoke about cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase's problems with the SEC regarding its lending product, noting that she was "shocked" to hear that Coinbase received a Wells warning. "Are you joking? They haven't even released the product. What is this?" he exclaimed when he found out.

Coinbase revealed last week that it received a Wells notice from the SEC. However, the exchange said it doesn't know what problem the SEC has with its Lend product. “We don't know why… We have not received any explanation from the SEC,” the exchange wrote.

"I think what the Wells notice is doing is a call from regulators saying we need to discuss these things because it's happening very quickly and I think we'll bring the courts into the system," Wood said, adding:

“This happened in Canada. A company called 3iq sued the regulator and won in court so that they were able to issue bitcoin ETFs [exchange-traded funds], as well as ETH funds. "

When asked which cryptocurrency she would invest in if she could only choose one, Wood said it would be bitcoin "because countries now consider it legal tender." The Ark Invest executive is referring to El Salvador, where the country's Bitcoin law went into effect on September 7, making BTC legal tender along with the US dollar.