Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest. [AFP]
Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest. [AFP]

Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, said global geopolitical instability could drive up the price of digital assets.

"Capital flight from unstable countries around the world will ignite another fire under bitcoin and other digital assets," Wood wrote on X on June 27.

She added that while AI is "sparking a technological revolution and commanding attention in investment markets, it cannot serve as the insurance policy for asset protection that many people are currently seeking."

The remarks suggest Wood sees bitcoin filling a distinct role from AI stocks — offering a store of value that can move freely across borders, meeting a different kind of demand even as AI companies continue to attract fresh capital on growth expectations.

The comments come alongside aggressive buying by Ark Invest. According to CoinTelegraph, the firm purchased $43.5 million worth of virtual asset-related shares over three trading days.

The purchases included 122,544 shares of Coinbase worth approximately $18.6 million and 169,777 shares of Circle worth roughly $12.9 million, as well as about $5.2 million in shares of crypto exchange Bullish.

Ark also added approximately $5.12 million in Robinhood, which is expanding its virtual asset tokenization business, and $1.69 million in SoFi Technologies, a bank considered friendly to virtual assets.

Wood, one of bitcoin's most prominent bulls, has maintained her long-term optimism even as bearish sentiment has spread. In a recent Fox Business interview, she said bitcoin could reach as high as $1.25 million within five years — more than 20 times its current level.

"We are in the early stages of an asset allocation shift toward digital assets, including bitcoin," Wood said, adding that "growing adoption by institutional investors will be the biggest catalyst."

As of Sunday, Ark Invest's top 10 holdings were Tesla (9.54%), Tempus AI (5.61%), CRISPR Therapeutics (5.08%), AMD (4.64%), Robinhood (4.58%), Shopify (4.44%), SpaceX (4.17%), Twist Bioscience (4.05%), Coinbase (3.65%) and Beam Therapeutics (3.48%).


bbo@heraldcorp.com