Ark Invest CEO Says Impossible to Shut Down Bitcoin — Regulators Will Become More Friendly Over Time

The CEO of Ark Investment Management (Ark Invest), Cathie Wood, says regulators cannot shut down bitcoin. She added that they will become more friendly towards cryptocurrencies over time. Wood is not the only one who thinks that governments cannot shut down bitcoin.

Regulators Cannot Shut Down Bitcoin, Says Ark’s CEO

Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood shared her view on bitcoin, its regulation, and environmental impact at the Consensus 2021 conference Thursday.

The CEO said that bitcoin is “already on its way and it’ll be impossible to shut it down.” She added that regulators “will be a little more friendly over time” towards cryptocurrencies due to a fear of missing out (FOMO) on the innovation coming from the crypto sector.

Wood also commented on bitcoin’s environmental impact, stating that “Half of the solution is understanding the problem.” She described: “This auditing of what miners, certainly in North America, are willing to do around how much of their electricity usage is generated by renewables is going to bring that topic into stark relief, and will encourage an acceleration in the adoption of renewables beyond which otherwise would have taken the place.”

Early this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that he met with North American bitcoin miners in a close-door meeting hosted by Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor. The miners have agreed to form a Bitcoin Mining Council to promote renewable energy usage in bitcoin mining.

Wood is not the only one who believes that governments cannot shut down bitcoin. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said banning bitcoin is like shutting down the internet. “I don’t see how you could ban it … I think that it would be a foolish thing for the government to try to do that,” she opined, noting, “I think it’s very difficult to ban something that’s essentially a peer-to-peer technology.”

Congressman Patrick McHenry said back in 2019 that bitcoin was “unstoppable,” adding: “We should not attempt to deter this innovation, and governments cannot stop this innovation and those that have tried have already failed.”

Last week, the CEO of Ark Invest reaffirmed her bitcoin price prediction, stating that her firm still sees the price of BTC reaching $500K. She further emphasized that that “All of our indicators are saying this is capitulation right now.”