Cathie Wood on How to Unleash Economic Growth: Deregulate
The head of ARK Invest, Cathie Wood, sees an American economy revitalized in the aftermath of deregulation; most specifically, at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. She said if changes in regulation allow blockchain, AI, and robotics to spread, the economy could see exponential productivity growth similar to that of the 1980s and 1990s.
Change at the Top of SEC and FTC
Wood emphasizes that one of the most significant positives facing the US economy is a “changing of the guard” at regulatory agencies, most notably the SEC. She cited the current SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s limits on digital assets as harmful, even going so far as to call the SEC stance a “menace” to the digital assets economy. This, she said, drove the brightest crypto innovators to operate from abroad. She feels new leadership will open a friendly environment to digital finance and decentralized technologies, bringing the best talent and investments back home to the US.
Deregulation and Innovation
Wood said that, coupled with the government’s spending cuts and reduction of taxes, deregulation would create a ripe environment for innovation. She says high regulation inhibits the building up of emerging industries, and that policies which reduce such barriers would provide a perfect avenue for sectors such as blockchain, AI, and autonomous technology to bloom. This support, according to her, would translate to increased productivity and faster economic growth, hence making the US more competitive on the global stage.
Emerging Technologies Acting as Catalysts for Growth
Wood expects an “explosion in productivity growth” to happen in robotics, energy storage, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. She opines that all these emerging technologies are converging with one another, and their output will result in productivity transformation throughout industries, thus showing a significant growth in GDP. This expected innovation-fueled boom parallels the economic rewards of the “golden age” of active equity investing during the 80s and 90s.
Pro-Crypto Policies Under Trump
Wood also notes that it is encouraging to see that President-elect Trump takes a very positive view of Bitcoin and crypto. The administration under Trump chatted about creating a Bitcoin strategic reserve- something Wood says will instill confidence in all the crypto assets. It would, in turn, further pull digital assets into the mainstream economy and spur growth in decentralized finance.
Support by Venture Capital Sector
Supporting Wood’s predictions, leading venture capital firm a16z also shared her optimism, pointing out that this new regulatory framework opens up blockchain and crypto to more innovation. With government support, the US could become, according to a16z, the global leader in digital finance; thus, creating jobs and placing the country at the forefront of the next technological revolution.
