Bitcoin ETFs Mean ‘Substitution’ From Gold Into BTC Will Continue, Says Cathie Wood

Cathie Wood, the CEO of investment manager ARK Invest, said there is a “substitution” from gold into bitcoin (BTC) under way, and the availability of spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will extend that trend.

While the price of the largest cryptocurrency is primarily denominated in fiat currencies, usually the U.S. dollar, even relative to gold BTC has been rising consistently since its early days, Wood pointed out on ARK Invest’s “Big Ideas 2024” podcast.

“There’s now a substitution into bitcoin, and we think that is going to continue now that there is a much easier way … to access bitcoin,” she said.

Bitcoin is often compared to gold as a store of value due to its finite supply and the difficulty in mining gold and mining BTC. That contrasts with other assets, such as national currencies, which can seemingly be printed out of thin air.

By extension, the possible effects of the first spot bitcoin ETFs are likened to the effect the first gold ETF had. The yellow metal’s price surged over 250% in the seven years following its first ETF in November 2004.