Cathie Wood Says Gary Gensler’s Political Ambitions May Explain His Reluctance To Approve Spot Bitcoin ETFs

Updated: 15 November 2023

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Ark Invest founder Cathie Wood suggested that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler may be hesitating to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund) because of his political ambitions.

“There’s speculation that he is interested in the Treasury Secretary position at some point,” Wood said in an interview with CNBC. “What does the Treasury Secretary do? Very focused on the dollar.”

Bitcoin is often touted as an alternative to the dollar and so approving a spot Bitcoin ETF would help add legitimacy to the king of crypto, and give it a tad more heft to challenge the mighty dollar at some point.

CATHIE WOOD: Gensler's reluctance toward a spot #Bitcoin ETF stems from his fear of manipulation, despite teaching about #Bitcoin at MIT 🤔

Speculation suggests his aspirations to be Secretary of the Treasury might be the actual reason for the approval delay 😮 pic.twitter.com/tSSDIz4Ku0

— Bitcoin News (@BitcoinNewsCom) November 14, 2023

Is Gensler Really Worried About Manipulation?

While Gensler has said previously that he’s reluctant to approve spot Bitcoin ETFs because of market manipulation risks, Wood said that cannot be the reason.

Bitcoin is a ”decentralized, transparent network” and because of that it’s highly unlikely there can can be manipulation, she said

”I don’t understand it,” she said. “He definitely understands” that Bitcion can’t be manipulated, she added.

Gensler is a former economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he taught a crypto and blockchain course.

Wood’s Ark Invest and 21Shares have an active joint spot Bitcoin ETF filing with the SEC. Analysts anticipate that the first spot Bitcoin ETF will hit the market by early next year, and perhaps as early as this week.

Cathie Wood Remains Bullish On Crypto

Cathie Wood remains bullish that the crypto industry will grow from the current $1 trillion valuation to $25 trillion by 2030.

“This regulatory breakthrough is very important,” says @ARKinvest Founder, CEO and CIO @CathieDWood. “Our expectation is that the crypto ecosystem will be dominated [by Ether and Bitcoin] and it will scale from more than $1 trillion today to $25 trillion in 2030.” pic.twitter.com/yWqwiMA5hV

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) November 14, 2023