After the U.S. SEC approved the first batch of spot Bitcoin ETFs on Wednesday, Cathie Wood, founder of Ark Investment Management, who has always been bullish on Bitcoin, further raised her price expectations for the cryptocurrency. Wood said that in the most optimistic scenario, the price of Bitcoin could reach $1.5 million in 2030. This is more optimistic than her previous expectations for Bitcoin to reach $1 million in the same time frame.
"We think the SEC approval increases the likelihood of a bull run," Wood said in an interview Thursday. "It's a green light."
Wood predicts that even in a bear market scenario, Bitcoin prices could climb to $258,500 in 2030, more than five times the current price.
Her base prediction is that Bitcoin will reach $682,800 by 2030.
"You can see the fundamentals, and you can see how conservative we are on those fundamentals," Wood said. "It's a great idea. It's the first global, decentralized, digital, rules-based -- and this is crucial -- currency system in history. It's a very great idea."
Wood’s Ark Investments and 21Shares are among 11 companies approved by the SEC to launch spot Bitcoin ETF products, including investment giants such as BlackRock, Invesco and Fidelity. The emergence of these new products has prompted many forecasters and industry veterans to be bullish on Bitcoin as more investors gain access to it.