Cathie Wood: The crypto market may have bottomed out, and Bitcoin remains the preferred choice for institutions

On December 14th, ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood stated that during the 1011 flash crash, Bitcoin was the most liquid among all cryptocurrencies, usually the first to be sold off, dragging other coins down. Other cryptocurrencies experienced larger declines. As the relevant information has been digested, the market may have already bottomed out. Cathie Wood emphasized that Bitcoin represents a new global monetary system and asset class, and is the preferred and starting point for institutional entry into the crypto space, ranking first in institutional asset allocation. Regarding Ethereum and Solana, Cathie Wood pointed out that the narrative is changing. Ethereum is the infrastructure chosen by institutions, building second-layer solutions on Ethereum, but with the rapid growth of L2 solutions, whether it faces a “commodification” risk remains to be observed. Nevertheless, the Ethereum ecosystem continues to expand, and Ethereum is our second choice. Solana is more oriented towards a consumer-facing blockchain ecosystem and has the potential to become part of institutional expansion in the future. In terms of asset allocation, Cathie Wood said that since flagship strategies cannot directly hold crypto ETFs, ARK mainly participates in the crypto industry through stocks, including CEX, Robinhood, and stablecoin-related companies like Circle, and holds a small amount of Ethereum and Solana exposure. Currently, crypto-related assets account for about 12%–13% of the portfolio, which is a relatively appropriate proportion. She added that the market is paying attention to whether large traditional financial institutions (such as Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, UBS, etc.) will officially introduce Bitcoin through ETFs in this cycle, and this decision could become an important variable influencing the next phase of the market.