TL;DR:
- Cathie Wood stated that Bitcoin is superior to gold as a store of value, highlighting its structural advantage in the modern financial system.
- Despite Wood’s optimism, Bitcoin has accumulated a 27.7% decline so far this year, while gold advanced 19% over the same period.
- Ark Invest strengthened its positions in companies linked to the crypto ecosystem, buying shares of Bitmine, Bullish and Robinhood for a total of nearly $19 million.
Cathie Wood, founder of Ark Invest, reaffirmed her conviction in Bitcoin during a recent interview with Bloomberg, where she described BTC as a structurally superior alternative to gold. The executive acknowledged that the precious metal has historically played a defensive role, but argued that BTC’s digital nature positions it differently within the contemporary financial system.
Wood argued that gold’s demand has a mature and consolidated profile, while Bitcoin is still in an early stage of institutional and retail adoption. She also noted that younger investors are increasingly prioritizing digital assets over physical gold, which in her view represents a generational shift in store-of-value preferences. She further highlighted that both assets can act as a hedge during deflationary cycles, though she indicated that Bitcoin has shown relatively stronger performance under those conditions.
What Do Bitcoin’s Numbers Say?
The market reality, however, tells a more complex story. Currently, Bitcoin is trading around $63,200 and has accumulated a 27.7% decline since the start of the year. Gold, by contrast, hovers around $5,180 per troy ounce and has posted a 19% gain over the same period. The divergence between Wood’s long-term conviction and the asset’s short-term performance is significant, and puts her narrative at odds with the concrete data coming from the market.
Despite this, Ark Invest deepened its exposure to the crypto ecosystem through purchases in sector-related companies. The firm acquired 212,314 shares of Bitmine for approximately $4.2 million, distributed across three exchange-traded funds. It also bought 74,323 shares of Bullish for around $2.4 million and 174,767 shares of Robinhood for approximately $12.4 million. Bullish became the ninth-largest holding in the ARKF fund, with a 3.4% weighting and a value of close to $30 million.
The shifts in Ark’s portfolio reflect a strategy consistent with its founder’s vision: the focus is on the structural growth of the digital ecosystem, regardless of short-term fluctuations. The firm also holds positions in Block, Circle and Coinbase.
