Bitcoin (BTC) started 2020 at $7,200. It ended the year at nearly $30,000, and it broke $40,000 in the early days of 2021.
Some think we’ve seen the high watermark for the year for the cryptocurrency. Ark Invest CEO, founder and CIO Cathie Wood, does not agree.
“We believe that the institutional behavior and moves recently have been fascinating,” she told Yahoo Finance Presents. “We have been expecting institutions to start moving into Bitcoin and other crypto assets, but primarily Bitcoin, the most secure of the blockchains. Because if you look at the correlation of Bitcoin’s performance relative to any other asset class, it has the lowest correlation, meaning if you buy some Bitcoin, you will further diversify your portfolio and increase your returns with lower risk.”
Bitcoin fundamentals and preparing for institutions are just two bullet points in Ark’s Big Ideas 2021 research. The annual report is Wood’s and team deepest dive to identify large-scale investment opportunities by focusing on those they believe to be the leaders, enablers, and beneficiaries of disruptive innovation.
See Also: Reddit traders are helping to inflate a bond bubble: Ark's Cathie Wood
It’s no surprise electric vehicles (EV) still feature prominently in Ark’s look at the year ahead. Tesla (TSLA) is the largest holding in the firm’s flagship Ark Innovation Fund (ARKK). The investment helped put the firm on the map.
Wood sees more growth ahead for the space given news from General Motors (GM) move to electric to Faraday Future’s SPAC. She estimates EV unit sales to go from around 2.2 million in 2020 to 40 million in 2025.
“All of these announcements have increased our confidence that the capital markets are going to finance this transition from internal combustion engine to electric,” she said. “That's great.”
While Ark sees Tesla as the top name in the US and believes the brand is strong in China, there may be room for a rival to make inroads.
“If I had to give you which of the Chinese names we have the highest conviction in, it's probably Baidu (BIDU),” she said. “That had been a hard sell for me because their search business was falling apart. And it did seem to me with more than 150 or 200 electric vehicle manufacturers — many being government subsidized — that there would be a bloodbath.”
However, the company does have a uniquely powerful endorsement.
“The government has deemed [Baidu] the autonomous platform for China,” she said. “We weren't sure whether to believe that or not, or if it would get caught up in the carnage. But it does seem to be doing something very interesting.”
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Jen Rogers is an anchor for Yahoo Finance Live. Follow her on Twitter @JenSaidIt.
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