Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Says US “Attempts to Wound Bitcoin” Hurt Its Long-Term Strategic Interests

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest Says US “Attempts to Wound Bitcoin” Hurt Its Long-Term Strategic Interests

Updated: 06 September 2023

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Cathie’s Wood’s Ark Invest said attempts by the US to “wound bitcoin” will hurt the country’s long-term strategic interests.

The US should embrace Bitcoin, not try to control it, tweeted Brett Winton, the firm’s chief futurist, in an Aug. 5 post on social media platform X.

The futurist said regulatory crackdowns on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are like trying to get rid of language translation technology.

“Trying to kill bitcoin because it threatens the supremacy of the U.S. dollar system is like trying to kill language translation technology because it threatens the supremacy of English,” he said.

both technologies, at more frictionless adoption, tend to steepen the power law advantage that the English/dollar system already enjoys

everything else becomes commoditized/intechangeable

the US attempts to wound bitcoin come at the expense of US long-term strategic interests https://t.co/SF39tTYfLg

— Brett Winton (@wintonARK) September 5, 2023

The US crypto industry has faced a regulatory storm this year as regulators warn that the industry is rife with fraud, scams and money laundering.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing crypto companies including the world’s biggest crypto exchanges, Binance and Coinbase.

It alleges that Coinbase traded at least 13 crypto assets that are unregistered securities and accuses Binance of operating a “web of deceptions” and of offering 12 cryptocurrency coins without registering them as securities.

The SEC is not the only U.S. regulator giving crypto companies sleepless nights. In March, the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a complaint against Binance’s co-founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, and its former chief compliance officer (CFO), Samuel Lim for allegedly violating derivatives trading laws.

Winton’s comments came hard on the heels of last week’s decision by the SEC to delay approving spot Bitcoin ETF applications from prominent asset managers BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise, VanEck, WisdomTree, Invesco and Valkyrie. The SEC also failed to make its decision on a similar application by Ark Invest and 21Shares earlier last month.

Congress Urged to Formulate Clear Bitcoin ETF Regulations

Given the regulatory uncertainty surrounding spot BTC exchange-traded futures, analysts at Coin Centre, a crypto-focused policy nonprofit, have urged the U.S. Congress to formulate clearer crypto regulations.

Several US lawmakers have criticized the SEC and its Chairman, Gary Gensler for the way they have treated the cryptocurrency. They accuse Gensler of hostile “regulation by enforcement.”

Congressman Ritchie Torres is among the latest to criticize the SEC’s approach, calling it “haphazard and heavy-handed.” Torres also called for an investigation into the special purpose broker-dealer license that was awarded to Prometheum, “a trading digital assets platform that does not trade digital assets.’’ He said that the SEC was “politicizing” the process of registering a trading platform.

Torres then asked the SEC to establish clarity in the registration process, which he called a “bridge to nowhere.” He also wrote another letter referencing the SEC vs Ripple case and the ruling passed by Judge Analisa Torres.

Representative Warren Davidson is another who has voiced his dissatisfaction with the SEC, accusing it of a “long series of abuses” toward the crypto industry. He introduced legislation that could remove the current Chair from his SEC post.

Republicans French Hill and Dusty Johnson also wrote to Gensler two months ago to stress the need to establish a clear regulatory framework, saying that would ensure the US retains innovation and growth in crypto markets.

I sent a letter alongside @RepDustyJohnson to @GaryGensler stressing the importance of productive engagement with @SECGov on our actions in Congress to regulate #DigitalAssets and establish clear rules of the road for all market participants.

Read our full letter, below: pic.twitter.com/pKoFuxVe2L

— French Hill (@RepFrenchHill) July 19, 2023