The Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of 11 spot bitcoin ETFs this week could be a turning point for cryptocurrency investing.
Ark Invest CEO and Chief Investment Officer Cathie Wood is behind one of the new ETFs. Her firm has partnered with 21Shares to launch the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF.
“We really believe this is an important moment for us to help democratize access to bitcoin and give more people access,” Wood told ETF Edge on Monday.
The first-ever batch of spot ETFs began trading on Thursday. Investors’ interest in bitcoin leading to historic ETF approval was on the rise. As of Friday, the cryptocurrency is up more than 125% over the past 12 months.
As financial firms become more involved with the new tools, the impact on bitcoin prices will be noticeable, according to Wood.
“If institutions with trillions of dollars under management put in 0.2% or 0.5%, that could really move the needle,” Wood said.
Ophelia Snyder’s company 21.co is heavily involved in the cryptocurrency space. According to its website, the firm “bridges traditional finance and decentralized finance for easy access to cryptocurrencies.”
“It’s also a big part of the new wave of disruptive technology,” said the president and co-founder of ETF Edge.
Snyder argued that bitcoin is not just a new asset class.
“It’s also a big part of the new wave of disruptive technology.”
Ophelia Snyder
President and co-founder of 21.CO
“There’s still a lot of ways that it’s actually going to interact with both the world at large and our economic systems as well as, quite frankly, how it’s going to ultimately interact with your portfolio,” she said.
Snyder also said the impact that wider access to bitcoin could have on the broader market “cannot be understated.”
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