ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood says crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will likely maintain their place in the economy no matter how big crypto wallet adoption becomes over the next decade.
“I think ETFs are an important stepping stone because, you know, wallets seem so complicated, so much friction for consumers, they just wanna push a button,” Wood said at the Solana Accelerate event in New York on May 23.
Wallets remain an insurance policy, says Wood
“So ETFs for those who want the convenience, I don’t think, will lose a lot of their luster,” she said. “But they will be a stepping stone into wallet-based.”
“These are insurance policies against something going wrong in the traditional world.”
Bitbo data suggests that there are around 200 million active Bitcoin (BTC) wallets worldwide. Meanwhile, the trading week ending May 23 saw approximately $2.75 billion inflows into US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs, coinciding with Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high of $111,970 on May 22.
Since spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in the US in January 2024, approximately $44.49 billion in inflows have been recorded, according to Farside data. Meanwhile, spot Ether (ETH) ETFs have seen approximately $2.77 billion in inflows since launching in July 2024.
Wood said that spot Ether ETFs were “less successful than people were expecting” because the US Securities and Exchange Commission did not allow staking. On May 21, the SEC delayed its decision on Bitwise’s application to add staking to its Ether exchange-traded fund.
However, Wood still views Ether as the entry point for new investors to familiarize themselves with smart contracts before exploring other cryptocurrencies, such as Solana (SOL).
“So they might start in the smart contract world with Ether, but once they study the technology, and follow the developers, and see the uptake by consumers, I think they will get there,” Wood said.
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Wood said that the launch of US President Donald Trump’s memecoin, Official Trump (TRUMP), in January on the Solana network may have caused investors to be skeptical of Solana.
“Institutions and you’re saying 60-year-olds…I think they might be a little turned off by what happened with the Trump memecoin,” Wood said. Just days after its launch on Jan. 17, TRUMP slid around 50% after the president made no crypto-related “day one” executive orders.
“I mean, that might scare them,” Wood said. Her comments came in response to ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reiterating the point that Bitcoin is “so easy” to explain to a “boomer or adviser” as being digital gold, but other cryptocurrencies “are tougher.”
Wood said her Solana price target is in progress and that she will share it once the research is complete.
In April, ARK raised its “bull case” Bitcoin price target from $1.5 million to $2.4 million by the end of 2030, primarily driven by institutional investors and Bitcoin’s increasing acceptance as “digital gold.”
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