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Cathie Wood Speculates Gary Gensler's Political Ambitions Are Affecting Spot BTC ETF Judgement
The ARK Invest founder and CEO remains bullish and said the crypto market opportunity could scale to $25 trillion by 2030.
Updated Mar 8, 2024, 5:15 p.m. Published Nov 14, 2023, 4:41 p.m.
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Might Gary Gensler's political ambitions be standing in the way of a spot bitcoin [BTC] approval?
Given how knowledgeable U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler is about Bitcoin [BTC], it's hard to come up with a logical reason for his standing in the way of a spot ETF, said ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood in a CNBC appearance.
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"This is a decentralized, transparent network. You can follow all the activity...it's highly unlikely to be manipulated," she said. And Gary Gensler knows this, she added, having taught a course in crypto and blockchain at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) prior to being SEC Chair.
Riffing, then, on what the explanation might be for the SEC's continued rejections of spot ETF applications, Wood referred to "speculation" surrounding Gensler's desire to be Treasury Secretary. "What does the Treasury Secretary do? It's very focused on the dollar," she said.
CATHIE WOOD: Gensler's reluctance toward a spot #Bitcoin ETF stems from his fear of manipulation, despite teaching about #Bitcoin at MIT 🤔
— Bitcoin News (@BitcoinNewsCom) November 14, 2023
Speculation suggests his aspirations to be Secretary of the Treasury might be the actual reason for the approval delay 😮 pic.twitter.com/tSSDIz4Ku0
Irregardless, Wood continues to be a major bull on crypto, predicting that a spot ETF would eventually be approved and that this would be among the catalysts for taking the cryptocurrency market cap from the current $1 trillion to a $25 trillion opportunity by 2030.
ARK Invest's application to list a spot bitcoin ETF in the U.S. is one of a dozen that the SEC is currently reviewing. Other companies that have applied include BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale and Wisdomtree.
Read More: Will Hashdex's 'Undeniable' Distinctions Help Win Bitcoin ETF Race? Some Analysts Think So
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