Cathie Wood: "Crypto is an election issue"

In the current presidential election campaign, regulation of crypto assets is becoming increasingly important, says Cathie Wood at Consensus 2024 in Austin, Texas. The CEO of Ark Invest bases her assessment on several developments that have taken place in recent days and weeks.

First, there is the sudden crypto-friendly attitude of former President Trump. The Republican has made several positive comments about the cryptoscene in recent weeks and announced his intention to accept campaign donations in Bitcoin.

Wood also points to regulatory developments in the US. On the one hand, FIT21, a preliminary framework for cryptocurrencies, was passed by the House of Representatives last week. Before that, there were political disputes over the scrapping of SEC Directive SAB-121.

In the end, however, the Ark Invest CEO cited the preliminary approval of Ethereum spot ETFs in the U.S. as the main argument for her assertion. For months, the SEC had avoided any contact with applicants for the financial products. Then last week came the surprise approval. Experts assume the decision was politically motivated.