Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood has a word of caution for crypto skeptics. Speaking on the sidelines of the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, the top exec said that cryptocurrency was created to stop reliance on legacy financial institutions. According to Wood, the Banks are already feeling the heat.
The leading investor who is one of crypto’s vocal advocates stated, “Banks have a big problem. They’re losing talent to crypto, so they’re having to raise wages to attract talent, and they’re losing business to DeFi. Lending and saving a lot of it is taking place in DeFi right now.”
As interest in decentralized finance or DeFi grows among investors, such applications could threaten the traditional banking world. There’s been a “share shift” when it comes to loans in DeFi, Cathie Wood said.
Apart from that, Wood also pointed out political institutions are also starting to respond to crypto in a more positive way. “What we’re seeing is 180 degrees different today than it was a year ago,” she said.
Wood then took note of the shift in stance from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who had previously expressed concern on crypto, citing its potential environmental problems and risk of illicit activity.
“I remember I was asked at the time and I basically said she hasn’t studied the technology and she hasn’t studied the instruments of the new asset class. Well, it seems like she’s been boning up,” Wood said.
Cathie Wood reiterated Bitcoin will top $1M by 2030
Harping on her January prediction Cathie Wood one of Bitcoin’s top evangelists said that BTC will scale by $1 million in 2030. It would come with a range of use cases, including as an insurance policy for people of means so that their wealth can’t be confiscated, she said.
Ark was the first public asset manager to gain exposure to bitcoin, in September 2015. Despite bullish narratives, Bitcoin on the price front remained in a correction phase falling by more than 8% in 7 days and trading at $42,533, press time. In the last 24 hours, the world’s dominant asset has registered a decline of 2%, according to coinmarketcap.