ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood said she would “make the transition from gold to Bitcoin” after gold left the metal looking stretched on a key liquidity measure, arguing that bitcoin’s supply strength and long-term acquisition case still favor the crypto asset despite a sluggish year.
Speaking on the February 2nd episode of The Rundown interview, Wood framed the call as part of a broader “big acceleration” vision laid out in ARK’s latest “Big Ideas” report, which expects big AI-driven spending to grow and spill over into robotics, energy storage, blockchain, and life sciences through what he describes as Scurves.
Sell Gold, Buy Bitcoin Now?
Woods pushed back on the idea that bitcoin has “lost its mojo” as gold has prospered in recent years, from a mathematical point of view. “The first thing you should know, Bitcoin and gold are not related. We have done the analysis […] to relate […] it’s as close to zero as you can get so there’s no correlation,” he said, adding that in the last two market cycles, gold led bitcoin before the crypto asset caught on.
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His strongest warning was directed at gold’s position against the broader currency. “You will get this […] chart showing gold divided by M2. It was only this time—never more. It hit a high this week,” Wood said, arguing that the setup is similar to historical extremes with very different superpowers. “Gold is probably riding the fall. […] The last two times it was close to this was hyperinflation […] in the 70s and early 80s again […] The Great Depression.”
Wood said the stablecoin boom has caught up with some of bitcoin’s “emerging market” transaction narratives, but he characterized that as a payments-layer shift rather than a savings-layer shift. “That’s just the equivalent of a checking account. If they want real savings, they’ll buy Bitcoin, we believe,” he said, linking the idea to ARK’s long-term case. He mentioned a target capital charge of $1.5 million by 2030 in the interview, as well as the firm’s previously discussed seven-figure cap.
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His core claim for comparison with gold centers on emissions. “Bitcoin supply growth is 0.8% per year and will slow down to 0.4 in the next two years,” Wood said, comparing gold supply growth to around 1% on average and suggesting that mining output may continue to outpace bitcoin output. He also pointed to “intergenerational wealth transfer” as a potential challenge for bitcoin in the long run.
Wood also offered an insightful explanation for why bitcoin has struggled to sustain momentum, pointing to what he described as the October 10 “flash crash” tied to a software glitch in Binance and the auto-deleveraging cascade. “There was a flash crash caused by a software error at Binance and there was a traffic slowdown event,” he said. “People were nice […] approximately R28 billion […] and we think that now washes over the system. “
Because bitcoin is “the most liquid of all crypto assets,” Wood argued that it becomes the “primary margin call,” making it the primary source of forced sales during broad transfers. He suggested that the overhang is now disappearing, but his comments came ahead of Monday’s release which saw bitcoin slip to $74,600. In an interview, he said the market was “testing.” […] about 80,000 again” and expecting that “it will hold 80 to 90,000 range” without a major shock to the country. […] maybe we will see the store of value come back with Bitcoin,” he added.
At press time, BTC traded at $78,377.
Featured image from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com
