ARK Invest CEO and CIO Cathie Wood asserted on May 29 that the US SEC greenlit spot Ethereum ETFs for political reasons.At Coindesk’s Consensus 2024, Wood identified two developments that arguably influenced the SEC’s changing sentiment. First, she said the House’s recent passing of FIT21 defined crypto as an election issue.Secondly, she said that former US President Donald Trump became “much more cozy with Bitcoin and crypto” around the time of the decision on spot ETH ETFs.Trump began to accept campaign donations in crypto during the week of the approvals, which Wood believes attracted the attention of Joe Biden’s administration.Wood said that the US SEC was “absolutely not” going to approve various pending spot ETH ETFs before its sudden shift in stance.If the SEC had approved funds in the typical manner, Ark and other issuers would have received questions from the agency, which was not the case. Wood said: “No one was getting questions from the SEC beforehand.”However, on May 23, the SEC approved rule changes to permit the listing and trading of eight spot ETH ETF funds, including Ark and 21 Shares’ joint offering.Wood expressed mixed opinions on whether other crypto ETFs could gain approval following the approval of ETFs. She said wirehouses could accept ETFs involving major cryptos, including Solana, while memecoin funds are unlikely.The Ark Invest CEO also recently commented on El Salvador, praising its Bitcoin policies after meeting President Nayib Bukele.Wood said Bukele’s treatment of Bitcoin, AI, and other areas could scale El Salvador’s GDP tenfold during his next five-year term. She described Bitcoin and AI as “two of the biggest economic and technology revolutions in history.”She added:“The President also leaped at the idea of introducing ARK Educate’s curriculum on technologically enabled innovation… to schools in El Salvador.”The curriculum includes blockchain, AI, robotics, energy storage, and multinomics.President Bukele is known for his various crypto policies. The El Salvador government holds at least 5,700 BTC, has implemented plans to generate income from BTC mining and local businesses, and has extended a citizenship offer for Bitcoin investors.Before transitioning to crypto writing in 2018, Mike studied library and information sciences. Currently, he resides on Canada’s West Coast.AJ, a passionate journalist since Yemen’s 2011 Arab Spring, has honed his skills worldwide for over a decade. Specializing in financial journalism, he now focuses on crypto reporting. Follow us on X for your essential dose of daily crypto news and deep dives.The initiative is expected to improve El Salvador’s economic situation by creating job opportunities and boost tourism.El Salvador’s Bitcoin reserves surpass expectations, hitting $383 million.President Nayib Bukele outlined El Salvador’s lucrative journey within the Bitcoin ecosystem.El Salvador and companies that chose to buy Bitcoin with reserves are having the last laugh as BTC approaches all-time highs before halving.The S-1 filing follows the SEC’s approval of NYSE Arca’s proposed rule change on behalf of ProShares.All spot ETH ETFs have yet to launch despite recent developments.ICBC compared Bitcoin to gold and said Ethereum has established itself as “digital oil” capable of powering myriad applications across the web3 ecosystem.DeFillama data shows the platform’s TVL rose 135% despite the attack.CryptoSlate’s latest market report dives deep into the effects corporate Bitcoin purchases have on the market.Disclaimer: Our writers’ opinions are solely their own and do not reflect the opinion of CryptoSlate. None of the information you read on CryptoSlate should be taken as investment advice, nor does CryptoSlate endorse any project that may be mentioned or linked to in this article. Buying and trading cryptocurrencies should be considered a high-risk activity. Please do your own due diligence before taking any action related to content within this article. Finally, CryptoSlate takes no responsibility should you lose money trading cryptocurrencies.
