ARK Make investments CEO and CIO Cathie Wooden asserted on Might 29 that the US SEC greenlit spot Ethereum ETFs for political causes.
At Coindesk’s Consensus 2024, Wooden recognized two developments that arguably influenced the SEC’s altering sentiment. First, she mentioned the Home’s latest passing of FIT21 outlined crypto as an election situation.
Secondly, she mentioned that former US President Donald Trump turned “way more cozy with Bitcoin and crypto” across the time of the choice on spot ETH ETFs.
Trump started to just accept marketing campaign donations in crypto in the course of the week of the approvals, which Wooden believes attracted the eye of Joe Biden’s administration.
SEC modified stance immediately
Wooden mentioned that the US SEC was “completely not” going to approve varied pending spot ETH ETFs earlier than its sudden shift in stance.
If the SEC had authorised funds within the typical method, Ark and different issuers would have acquired questions from the company, which was not the case. Wooden mentioned:
“Nobody was getting questions from the SEC beforehand.”
Nonetheless, on Might 23, the SEC authorised rule modifications to allow the itemizing and buying and selling of eight spot ETH ETF funds, together with Ark and 21 Shares’ joint providing.
Wooden expressed blended opinions on whether or not different crypto ETFs might acquire approval following the approval of ETFs. She mentioned wirehouses might settle for ETFs involving main cryptos, together with Solana, whereas memecoin funds are unlikely.
Bukele’s El Salvador insurance policies
The Ark Make investments CEO additionally not too long ago commented on El Salvador, praising its Bitcoin insurance policies after assembly President Nayib Bukele.
Wooden mentioned Bukele’s remedy of Bitcoin, AI, and different areas might scale El Salvador’s GDP tenfold throughout his subsequent five-year time period. She described Bitcoin and AI as “two of the largest financial and expertise revolutions in historical past.”
She added:
“The President additionally leaped on the thought of introducing ARK Educate’s curriculum on technologically enabled innovation… to varsities in El Salvador.”
The curriculum consists of blockchain, AI, robotics, vitality storage, and multinomics.
President Bukele is understood for his varied crypto insurance policies. The El Salvador authorities holds no less than 5,700 BTC, has applied plans to generate revenue from BTC mining and native companies, and has prolonged a citizenship supply for Bitcoin buyers.
