Cathie Wood praises Elon Musk, calls SEC boss Gary Gensler hardcore, and says bitcoin will hit $500,000 in a new interview. Here are the 13 best quotes.

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Cathie Wood praises Elon Musk, calls SEC boss Gary Gensler hardcore, and says bitcoin will hit $500,000 in a new interview. Here are the 13 best quotes.
Ark Invest's Cathie Wood. Ark Invest; Insider
  • Cathie Wood praised Tesla CEO Elon Musk and said she's happy hardcore regulator Gary Gensler understands crypto.
  • Bitcoin could soar to $500,000 in the next five years, the Ark Invest CEO said in a recent SALT Conference interview.
  • Ark won't be hugely involved in assets in China as it isn't a very friendly place for capital right now, she said.
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Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood called Tesla boss Elon Musk a visionary, described SEC chief Gary Gensler as a hardcore regulator, and revealed what it would take for her firm to step up investments in China, in a recent interview with CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin.

In the SALT conference interview, she also predicted bitcoin would surge to $500,000 within five years if companies continue to diversify their cash into the cryptocurrency and institutional investors allocate 5% of their funds to it.

Here are Wood's 13 best quotes from the interview, lightly edited and condensed for clarity:

1. "He's a visionary and he sees the future so clearly." - the longtime Tesla bull's comment on the company's CEO Elon Musk.

2. "I'm really happy he understands crypto and understands the merits of bitcoin in particular. He is a regulator, though, and he is a hardcore regulator." - on Gary Gensler, the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who is pushing to regulate crypto exchanges more closely.

3. "I think I'd default still to bitcoin because countries are now deeming it legal tender." - her cryptocurrency of choice, if she could own just one.

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4. "Our confidence in ether has gone up dramatically as we've seen the beginning of this transition - from proof of work to proof of stake. We'd still probably do 60% bitcoin, 40% ether." - on the potential for ether.

5. "If we're right and companies continue to diversify their cash into something like bitcoin, and institutional investors start allocating 5% of their funds, we believe that the price will be ten-fold of where it is today. So instead of $45,000, over $500,000." - on the potential value of bitcoin in five years' time.

6. "I do believe that both crypto and the equity markets are going to be powered by millennials." - on the upcoming demographic boost to stocks as millennials mature.

7. "I'd be shocked if it goes away. I agree with the General Counsel because it has been so good for zero-commission trading and so forth." - on the SEC's potential ban of Robinhood's payment for order flow system.

8. "I do believe there's a chip shortage because the world's going digital. I believe chips are the new commodities. Chips are going to be what Dr. Copper has been in the industrial world." - on disruption in the auto industry.

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9. "I don't think it's a very friendly place for capital now. However, China has, in its various five-year plans, made innovation an incredibly important plank. And so we don't want to avoid it. But what we do want to avoid is very-high-margin companies." - on Ark Invest reducing its exposure to Chinese equities.

10. "It would be saying, 'Whoops, we made a mistake, we're open for business.' I don't think he (Xi Jinping) will do that. So I don't think we'll be hugely involved with China." - talking about the prospects for a reversal in China's policy when asked what it would take for her to invest more there.

11. "When I heard the CEO tell his story, my smile went ear-to-ear because I said, 'Man, this is gonna be so explosive.' This is how I felt when the internet first came about." - her reaction to hearing about Async Art, a NFT platform for programmable art.

12. "We're going to see more creative destruction than we have in all history during the next five to 10 years." - on how tech innovation can disrupt existing industries in a deflationary way.

13. "We're completely devoted to nothing else but disruptive innovation. We see explosive growth."

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Read More: Will bitcoin boom or bust in El Salvador? 7 sharply divided experts share their views - and one mega-bull even calls for bitcoin to go over $1 million thanks to a 'chain reaction' of adoption.

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