Cathie Wood, ARK Invest\u2019s founder and CEO, said she expects the Trump administration could move beyond simply holding seized bitcoin and begin purchasing BTC to build a US strategic reserve, a shift she argued could become a catalytic signal for markets and other governments.<\/p>\n
Speaking on ARK\u2019s \u201cBitcoin Brainstorm\u201d podcast in an episode<\/a> dated Jan. 08, Wood framed government buying as a potential inflection point at a time when she believes institutional participation remains \u201cjust beginning\u201d and bitcoin\u2019s supply dynamics are getting harder to ignore.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen very little institutional buy-in, it is just beginning,\u201d Wood said. \u201cAnd I think if we get the US, for example, not adding just confiscated bitcoin to a strategic reserve but, you know, out there buying, and we don\u2019t know if that\u2019s going to be the case. But if they were to do so, I have a feeling that would set off what we\u2019re all waiting for, which is, you know, the scarcity value to reassert itself again now that we\u2019re near 20 million bitcoin outstanding and we only have one more million to go.\u201d<\/p>\n In the discussion, Wood suggested the administration\u2019s posture so far has effectively been limited to confiscated holdings. She contrasted that with what she described as an earlier ambition for scale, noting \u201cthe original intent was to own a million bitcoin,\u201d before adding her view that a pivot toward purchases is plausible.<\/p>\n Wood linked that possibility to political incentives heading into the 2026 US midterm elections, describing Trump as motivated to keep momentum and avoid being politically sidelined. \u201cPresident Trump does not want to be a lame duck,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I have a feeling that he is going to work with his crypto and AI czar<\/a> to do a few things\u2026 [and] it seems as though there\u2019s been reticence about actually buying bitcoin for the strategic reserve. So far, so far it\u2019s confiscated\u2026 So I actually think they will start buying.\u201d<\/p>\n Wood also pointed to what she sees as aligned constituencies around the president, arguing he has \u201call kinds of reasons\u201d to lean into crypto while emphasizing that the political calculus<\/a> matters because of the midterm timeline.<\/p>\nMidterms Could Drive US Bitcoin Reserve Buys<\/h2>\n