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Cathie Wood Attributes Bitcoin's Rise to National Currency Devaluations

Wood called bitcoin an "insurance policy against rogue regimes and horrible fiscal and monetary policies."

Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood
Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)
  • Cathie Wood said currency devaluations in Nigeria, Egypt and Argentina are behind bitcoin's rise this year.
  • Wood labelled bitcoin as an "insurance policy" against rogue regimes.
  • Last month she reiterated her bitcoin price target of $1.5 million.

ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood has said bitcoin's rise to a record high this year has been in part due to national currency devaluations around the world.

Bitcoin (BTC) has gained more than 130% in the past 12-months, hitting an all-time high of $73,800 last month alongside a wave of demand from spot bitcoin ETFs in the United States.

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Wood touted a separate narrative in an interview with CNBC, stating that bitcoin is an "insurance policy against rogue regimes and horrible fiscal and monetary policies."

"There is something else going on around the world." Wood said. "There are currency devaluations taking place that people are not talking about. The Nigerian naira is down 50, 60% in the last nine months. Egypt just devalued by 40%. Argentina, continuing to devalue. I think is a flight to safety taking place, a hedge against devaluation a hedge against a loss of purchasing power and wealth."

Two weeks ago Wood reiterated a $1.5 million price target for bitcoin, labelling it as a “financial super highway.”

"We saw this even here last year in the United States, regional banks imploded, bitcoin went up 40%," she said today. "Bitcoin does not have counterparty risk. This is both a risk on asset and it is risk off. I remember we got in at $250 when Greece was threatening to leave the euro."

Oliver Knight

Oliver Knight is the co-leader of CoinDesk data tokens and data team. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022 Oliver spent three years as the chief reporter at Coin Rivet. He first started investing in bitcoin in 2013 and spent a period of his career working at a market making firm in the UK. He does not currently have any crypto holdings.

Oliver Knight