Cathie Wood Sees SEC's Shift In Attitude; Spot Bitcoin ETF By ARK Invest Makes Headway

The spot Bitcoin ETF application by ARK Invest and 21Shares is making progress, as reported by Cathie Wood, an American investor and the CEO and CIO of ARK Invest. She also highlighted the shift in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) attitude towards BTC ETF filings.

Earlier this week, the cryptocurrency community was shocked by a false report claiming that the SEC had approved BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF application. This fake news led to over $100 million in liquidation and a momentary spike in Bitcoin's value to $30,000.

While many speculated that this false news might deter the SEC from approving spot Bitcoin ETF applications, Wood said that the financial regulator is starting to show a change in its approach.

"Our partner 21Shares in Europe did answer or send information in response to the SEC questions... and what we see here is a little bit of a change in the SEC's behavior," Wood said in a recent CNBC interview, adding, "They actually are asking questions and we provided five pages along with our partner of answers to those questions. So progress we would say."

Wood is also optimistic that the major Wall Street regulator will approve spot Bitcoin ETF applications and believes multiple approvals will happen simultaneously. She explained, "The SEC is engaging with us for the #BitcoinETF application. It indicates a change in the SEC's behavior. Bitcoin ETFs will definitely be approved, and multiple ETFs will receive approval simultaneously. The court will mandate the SEC."

Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, noted that Wood's statement aligns with what they have previously heard and predicted. He mentioned in a tweet, "Cathie echoes what we've been hearing and saying, but it's always good to have an actual issuer interact with them and provide this level of detail."

Additionally, Wood shared her belief that institutional interest will surge once the SEC approves the Bitcoin ETF. She said, "Many people focus on our Bitcoin price target, and our base case is over $600,000 by 2030. Institutions, especially, will show interest in Bitcoin once they see the SEC's approval."

As of 11:53 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Bitcoin was trading at $28,249.18, with a 24-hour trading volume down by 24.14% at $13.28 billion. This represents a 0.75% decrease in the last 24 hours and a 4.2% gain over the past seven days.

Bitcoin's total circulating supply stands at 19.52 million BTCs, with its value up by 0.10% to a $551.75 billion market cap, according to data from CoinMarketCap.