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ARK Invest CEO and CIO Cathie Wood claimed on May 29 that the US SEC gave the green light to ethereum ETFs for political reasons.
In Coindesk's 2024 Consensus, Wood identified two developments that likely influenced the SEC's change in sentiment. First, he said the House's recent passage of FIT21 defined cryptocurrencies as an electoral issue.
Second, he said that former US President Donald Trump became “much more welcoming to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies” around the time of the eth spot ETF decision.
Trump began accepting cryptocurrency campaign donations during approvals week, which Wood believes attracted the attention of Joe Biden's administration.
The SEC suddenly changed its position
Wood said the US SEC was “absolutely not” going to approve several pending spot eth ETFs before his sudden change of stance.
If the SEC had approved the funds in the usual way, Ark and other issuers would have received questions from the agency, which was not the case. Wood said:
“No one received questions from the SEC beforehand.”
However, on May 23, the SEC approved rule changes to allow the listing and trading of eight eth spot ETF funds, including the joint offering of Ark and 21 Shares.
Wood expressed mixed views on whether other crypto ETFs could gain approval following the ETFs' approval. He said wirehouses could accept ETFs involving major cryptocurrencies, including Solana, while memecoin funds are unlikely.
Bukele's El Salvador policies
The CEO of Ark Invest also recently commented on El Salvador, praising its bitcoin policies after meeting with President Nayib Bukele.
Wood said Bukele's treatment of bitcoin, ai and other areas could increase El Salvador's GDP tenfold during his next five-year term. He described bitcoin and ai as “two of the greatest economic and technological revolutions in history.”
She added:
“The President also seized on the idea of introducing the ARK Educate curriculum on technologically enabled innovation… into El Salvador's schools.”
The curriculum includes blockchain, artificial intelligence, robotics, energy storage and multinomy.
President Bukele is known for his various crypto policies. The government of El Salvador holds at least 5,700 btc, has implemented plans to generate income from btc mining and local companies, and has extended a citizenship offer for bitcoin investors.
