TLDR
- Cathie Wood reduces her Bitcoin price forecast by $300,000, now expecting a top price of $1.2 million by 2030.
- She cites the rapid growth of stablecoins as a key factor affecting Bitcoin’s role in emerging markets.
- Wood acknowledges that stablecoins are replacing Bitcoin as a preferred store of value in certain regions.
- Stablecoins are growing faster than anticipated, particularly in countries facing high inflation and currency controls.
- Wood remains bullish on Bitcoin overall, describing it as a global monetary system and a store of value.
Cathie Wood reduced her long-term Bitcoin forecast, warning that stablecoins are taking part of Bitcoin’s expected market role. She said stablecoins are growing faster than anticipated, especially in emerging markets that use them for daily financial needs.
Bitcoin Outlook Adjusted by Cathie Wood
Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, revised her Bitcoin projection from $1.5 million to $1.2 million by 2030. She told CNBC that stablecoins are now replacing Bitcoin in several regions once expected to adopt it as savings.
“Stablecoins are usurping part of the role that we thought Bitcoin would play,” Cathie Wood said on Thursday. She added that the rise of dollar-pegged digital assets is reshaping how developing economies use crypto.
Cathie Wood emphasized that her stance on Bitcoin remains positive, even with the adjusted price outlook. She described Bitcoin as a “global monetary system” and compared it to gold as a store-of-value asset.
Stablecoins Gain Traction in Emerging Economies
Cathie Wood said stablecoins are scaling faster than many predicted, especially in inflation-hit and restricted economies. Standard Chartered projected that U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins could draw over $1 trillion from emerging markets by 2028.
Countries like Venezuela and Argentina now rely heavily on stablecoins to counter high inflation and strict currency controls. These tokens offer access to dollar-denominated savings without depending on traditional banking systems.
Cathie Wood noted that this shift affects Bitcoin’s growth potential as people opt for stable digital dollars instead. She said stablecoins serve as a practical substitute for savings rather than a speculative asset.
Venezuela’s Growing Stablecoin Dependence
The International Monetary Fund reported Venezuela’s inflation rate at 269% in 2025. As a result, millions of residents now use Tether’s USDT as their preferred savings option.
Strict currency controls have pushed Venezuelans to adopt stablecoins for transactions and cross-border payments. These assets help them maintain value without exposure to local currency instability.
Reports in 2024 indicated that Venezuela’s government also used stablecoins to bypass U.S. sanctions on oil trades. Cathie Wood said this reflects how stablecoins are evolving into a key tool for financial operations worldwide.
Her comments align with the growing evidence that stablecoins are replacing some of Bitcoin’s intended functions. Cathie Wood concluded that the expansion of these digital dollars is reshaping global crypto adoption trends.
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