Cathie Wooden is betting that politics, not simply markets, might be the catalyst that pushes the US into actively shopping for bitcoin.
The ARK Make investments founder mentioned this week that cryptocurrency has turn into a sturdy political challenge for President Donald Trump, one that might form coverage selections because the White Home seems forward to the 2026 midterm elections.
In Wooden’s view, that dynamic will increase the chances that the federal authorities finally strikes past holding seized BTC and begins buying BTC outright for a nationwide strategic reserve.
Crypto was “a part of the rationale he received the presidency,” Wooden mentioned on a latest episode of ARK’s Bitcoin Brainstorm podcast. With midterms looming, she argued, Trump has incentives to maintain the business onside and to ship seen progress.
“A very powerful one is that he doesn’t need to be a lame duck. He desires to have one other one or two productive years, and I feel he sees crypto as a path to the long run,” Wooden mentioned.
The U.S. BTC reserve was created by govt order lower than every week into Trump’s second time period, alongside a broader digital asset stockpile and a brand new interagency working group chaired by Particular Advisor for AI and Crypto David Sacks.
To date, nonetheless, the reserve has been capitalized solely with bitcoin seized by means of felony forfeitures — property Trump has pledged to not promote.
“It appears as if there was reticence about truly shopping for bitcoin for the strategic reserve,” Wooden mentioned. “To date, it’s confiscated [bitcoin].” That posture, she advised, might not final. “The unique intent was to personal a million bitcoins, so I truly suppose they may begin shopping for.”
Crypto has emerged as a extra organized political constituency over the previous election cycle. Trade-backed political motion committees poured cash into congressional races, whereas outstanding executives publicly endorsed Trump and, in some instances, donated personally. Wooden herself was amongst these supporters.
The administration has additionally made some extent of signaling engagement with the sector. The White Home has hosted crypto-related occasions, and companies together with Coinbase, Tether and Ripple are amongst these contributing to the development of a brand new White Home ballroom.
Bitcoin as a ‘scarce worth’
On the coverage entrance, Trump has signed govt orders establishing the bitcoin reserve and crypto stockpile, and backed legislative efforts such because the GENIUS Act, which might formalize stablecoin guidelines.
A July report from Sacks’ working group laid out extra suggestions, together with granting the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee authority over spot markets in non-security digital property. It reaffirmed that the bitcoin reserve and crypto stockpile can be administered by the Treasury Division and, no less than initially, funded with forfeited property. The order additionally directed the Treasury and Commerce Departments to discover “budget-neutral” methods to accumulate extra bitcoin.
Wooden sees that constraint as the important thing hurdle, however not an insurmountable one. She framed potential authorities shopping for as a market inflection level, particularly as bitcoin’s provide tightens. Practically 20 million of bitcoin’s 21 million cap have already been mined.
“If we get the U.S. not simply including confiscated bitcoin to a strategic reserve however truly on the market shopping for,” Wooden mentioned, “that will set off what we’re all ready for — the shortage worth to reassert itself.”
