Cathie Wood Says Bitcoin A 'Flight To Safety' In Uncertain Times — Ray Dalio Remains Unconvinced

Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Investment Management, praised the resilience of Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD during the recent banking crisis.

What Happened:  In an interview with Yahoo Finance on Saturday, Wood explained that these digital assets have acted as "risk-off" assets and a "flight to safety" for investors during periods of macroeconomic uncertainty.

According to Wood, Bitcoin and Ethereum have outperformed other asset classes and function similarly to gold.

Wood also suggested that cryptocurrency could become an “election issue” as it gains broader adoption and acceptance. She argued that the growing popularity of Bitcoin and Ether suggests a transformation in the traditional financial system, noting that “you cannot stop innovation.”

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Her views were in stark contrast to another take from a heavyweight from the world of finance.

Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, said in a YouTube interview with Julia La Roche last week that he doesn’t see Bitcoin as an effective investment asset.

He argued that Bitcoin’s volatility makes it a poor store of value or medium of exchange and that central banks are unlikely to adopt it. 

“It’s a very poor alternative to gold,” he said.

Despite its growing popularity, Bitcoin remains a very small and volatile asset, getting attention that is “way out of proportion to its size,” Dalio said. “It’s like 25% of the size of Microsoft and that’s one stock in a world that has a lot of assets and stock markets.”

Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $29,979 down 1.03% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.

Read More: Ethereum, Dogecoin Rise Even As Bitcoin Drops Below $30K: Why This Analyst Thinks Apex Crypto Can Hit All-Time High This Year