ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood predicts that wirehouses will only show interest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for the top digital assets. In an interview with Peter McCormack at the Consensus 2024 crypto conference, Wood stated that large broker-dealers will likely embrace a spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF and an Ethereum (ETH) ETF. While Bitcoin ETFs have already launched, there is now a possibility that ETH ETFs could launch later this year, with the potential for ETFs for other crypto assets to follow suit.
Wood believes that wirehouses will only accept a limited number of ETFs, such as BTC and ETH, possibly including Solana. However, she does not expect them to offer more than the major assets in order to provide exposure to this new asset class for their clients. Wood suggests that private funds will carefully evaluate the numerous available options and select around 20 or 30 with rigorous due diligence, as there is a significant amount of misleading information circulating in the market.
Wood also notes that since the approval of spot BTC ETFs, ARK and other companies have been engaged in discussions with major platforms, commonly known as wirehouses, such as Morgan Stanley, UBS, Merrill Lynch, and Wells Fargo. These platforms are conducting thorough due diligence to understand the nature of these products. Although no major platform has yet added any spot Bitcoin ETFs to their offerings, Wood anticipates that this will change based on the questions they are asking and the level of interest they are showing.
In conclusion, Wood emphasizes the importance of conducting thorough research and due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, or digital assets. The Daily Hodl, where this article is published, does not provide investment advice and encourages readers to take responsibility for their own transfers and trades.
