Exclusive Interview with "The Queen of Stocks" Cathie Wood: Unveiling Ark Invest's Crypto Assets Investment Methodology

CoinDesk spoke to Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, about how the popularity of stablecoins has impacted her predictions for Bitcoin, her unique investment philosophy, and debunking Ark Invest’s crypto asset allocation methodology. This article is from an article written by Coindesk and compiled, compiled, and contributed by LenaXin, ChainCatcher. (Synopsis: Cathie Wood: Bitcoin holders may transfer BTC to Coinbase mortgage to buy a house) (Background supplement: The female stock god gets on Ethereum!) Ark invests $182 million in BitMine; SharpLink Gaming buys another 80,000 ETH) I think AI will soon disrupt traditional quantitative strategies and make them completely commoditized. Speaker: Cathie Wood, CEO and Chief Information Officer, ARK Invest Podcast Date: August 12, 2025 ChainCatcher Editor’s Summary: This article is compiled from a spotlight interview podcast between Coindesk and Cathie Wood, CEO and CIO of Ark Invest, where she explains how the rapid adoption of stablecoins has impacted her interest in Bitcoin (Bitcoin) her famous $1.5 million forecast, explore her personal journey into economics and her unique investment philosophy, and uncover Ark Invest’s crypto asset allocation methodology, transparent strategy operating logic, and regulatory dilemmas. ChainCatcher is collated and compiled. Brilliant Views Excessively high tax rates dampen tax growth. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has broken the balance, reflecting both political considerations and deep economic concerns. If the high interest rate environment continues, a substantial decline in house prices will be the only way to solve the housing crisis. At present, the US economy is on the eve of the switch from a “rolling recession” to a “recovery beyond expectations”. The Ethereum network is becoming the main vehicle for the explosion of stablecoins. Bitcoin’s two core values: the entrance to institutional allocation of digital assets and the digital form of gold. In a bull market scenario, Bitcoin’s goal of breaking through $1 million in five years still holds, and may even be significantly surpassed. We are more focused on the potential boundaries of AI, which is the real main line of change now. From an investment perspective, markets such as Europe have regulatory fragmentation and geopolitical risks. I think AI will soon disrupt traditional quantitative strategies and make them completely commoditized. CoinDesk: What are your first impressions of markets, the financial system, and innovation? Cathie Wood: In college, I had no idea where I was headed, so I tried all kinds of possibilities. Engineering, education, geology, astronomy, physics… Really dabbled in all areas. To be honest, I didn’t take economics at the time, perhaps in part because my father specifically wanted me to take this course. I didn’t take economics until the last semester of my sophomore year at UCLA and it turned out to be completely fascinating. After discovering that UCLA did not have a university business program, I immediately transferred to the University of Southern California and met the famous economist Arthur Laffer. It was he who saw my passion for economics and introduced me to what was then the largest and most prestigious investment institution in Los Angeles: the Capital Group. When I first joined the company, I didn’t know anything about the financial world, but I instantly found the connection between economics and the real world. The feeling of participating in the market made me fall in love with the investment industry almost immediately, and I realized that the job not only paid me to learn, but also gave me the logic of how the world works. When I joined Capital Group at the age of 20, I decided it would be my life’s work. CoinDesk: What ignited your passion for economics? Cathie Wood: Although I was close to my father, my adolescent rebellion made me deliberately shy away from the economics he recommended. It wasn’t until I met Professor Arthur Laffer that he conquered me with his unique art of teaching. Each lesson starts with a real-world problem, ignites interest with jokes, and finally derives a full blackboard formula. He gives us a panoramic view of the collision of ideas between the schools of economics: Harvard’s Keynesianism, Chicago’s monetarism, and the supply-side school that he is committed to promoting. This diversity of perspectives has given me an edge in my career. When Wall Street embraced Keynesianism in the '80s, I accurately foresaw that Reagan’s supply-side reforms would lead to the longest bull market in history. Even in the winter when interest rates soared to 15 percent, I remained convinced of the truth revealed by the Laffer curve: excessive tax rates dampened tax growth. Later, during the 18 years at Janison Associates, we often invited mentors to reinforce this philosophy. The ideological foundation laid over those years eventually allowed me to forge my own path in the investment world. (2) Rare differences in the Fed hide economic changes? CoinDesk: The Fed just decided to keep interest rates unchanged, what are your thoughts on the direction of interest rates? Cathie Wood: There are rare two votes against today’s Fed resolution, the first time since 1993 that there has been a double opposition. Chairman Powell, who has always focused on consensus in decision-making, is now upset or hidden. The political considerations of the upcoming term in May next year also reflect deep economic concerns. The two dissident directors may have seen signs of continued weakness in the housing market and tariff transmission failures, indicating that inflation will continue to fall. The job market is structurally divergent, and unemployment among college graduates is rising, reflecting the accelerated replacement of entry-level jobs by AI. We have detected a downward inflection point in housing inflation, but the statistical lag masks the true trend. If the high interest rate environment continues, a substantial decline in house prices will be the only way to solve the housing crisis. At present, the US economy is on the eve of the switch from a “rolling recession” to a “recovery beyond expectations”. As policy uncertainty recedes, productivity jumps over the next 6-9 months will be the biggest bright spot. Technological breakthroughs such as robotics, energy storage, AI, blockchain and gene sequencing are creating unprecedented deflationary momentum. This “creative destruction” will be polarized: benign deflation for innovators and fatal shock for those who keep it. Mainstream economists are grossly underestimating the depth and breadth of this deflationary revolution. (3) Regulatory deregulation + AI revolution, Ethereum or institutional encryption infrastructure core? CoinDesk: Regarding the outlook for the next 6-9 months, what role will cryptocurrencies play in the recovery you foresee? Cathie Wood: The regulatory shift is reshaping the innovation landscape. The shift from “law enforcement” in the Geisler era to a legislatively guided friendly framework is accelerating the rise of “surrogate AI”: in the future, AI assistants will make decisions autonomously and work together, which requires smart contracts as the underlying support. When AI agents and media platforms automatically settle, the value of the integration of blockchain and AI is highlighted. As regulation breaks the ice, traditional institutions are aggressively deploying blockchain, which will not only reduce payment costs from 3.5% to 1% (2% cost savings mean huge efficiency gains when global AUM reaches $250 trillion in five years), but also give rise to agent-based AI-driven micropayment networks. The “digital infrastructure” formed by these innovations is becoming the core engine of the next round of productivity revolution, which is the strategic fulcrum of the crypto economy in the new cycle. CoinDesk: Do you see Ethereum as the foundation layer for building an efficient agent-based AI ecosystem? Cathie …