Cathie Wood says SEC scrutiny into Binance will reduce competition for Coinbase
Ark Invest's Wood says that while Binance is in hot water with the SEC for fraud, Coinbase has not been accused of any criminal activity.
Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood told Bloomberg that Coinbase could benefit from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) scrutiny of Binance.
The SEC sued both Coinbase and Binance earlier this week for allegedly offering unregistered securities, among other charges, in separate cases. Wood said:
โWe have Binance under increasing regulatory scrutiny for more criminal activities, fraud being one of them, therefore we have the competition for Coinbase disappearing, so thatโs a good thing longer term for Coinbase.โ
On June 7, the day the SEC sued Coinbase, Ark Invest bought over 400,000 Coinbase stocks. The COIN price slumped nearly 20% after the SEC announced its lawsuit. Ark Invest is the fourth-largest shareholder of the exchange.
Wood emphasized that, unlike Binance, the SEC lawsuit against Coinbase does not involve accusations of criminal activity. She added:
“There are questions about whatโs a security, about staking, those are the two questions that Coinbase and Binance are facing, but most of the other questions about Binance have nothing to do with Coinbase.โ
Confident about Bitcoin
Wood said that the uncertainty and volatility in the global economies had boosted Ark Invest’s confidence in Bitcoin – she firmly believes that Bitcoin will hit the $1 million mark in the future.
“Why would Bitcoin do well in that circumstance? It will do well because itโs an antidote to counterparty risk in the traditional financial system.โ
She commented that supply chain issues primarily drove the recent inflationary scare in the U.S., but now that appears to be clearing, there is a growing risk of deflation.