Ark Invest founder and CEO Cathie Wood has been openly optimistic about the US economy despite worrying economic data.
On December 5, Wood set the record straight on inflation, housing, and his outlook on Bitcoin versus gold. For context, Wood is one of the world’s most influential technology and cryptocurrency investors, best known for making early and bold bets on Bitcoin, Tesla, AI and genomics.
He founded ARK Invest, a leading US investment firm focused on high-growth innovation sectors. Their calls shape how Wall Street views the future of technology and digital assets.
Related: Cathie Wood Backtracks on $1.5 Million Bitcoin Price Prediction
Wood acknowledged that inflation “seems to have been stuck in this two and a half to three percent range for some time.”
In the US, headline CPI was near 3.0% year-on-year in September 2025, slightly above the Fed’s 2% target, while the Reserve’s preferred PCE gauge ranged between 2.6% and 2.8%.
Still, he argued that stronger real growth and productivity, and not more rate hikes, are what will reduce price pressures:
“A lot of people assume that growth means inflation. That’s absolutely wrong. If you look at the 45 years, with the exception of COVID, the 45 years since inflation peaked in the early ’80s, when real growth picked up, inflation is coming down, mainly because of productivity gains.”
She argues:
When the economy grows thanks to technology (blockchain, AI, robotics, automation, etc.)
Companies can produce more with less costs
That drives down prices.
Which means inflation falls, not rises.
As Peter Schiff and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) clash over Bitcoin and gold have crypto social media buzzing again, Cathie Wood has weighed in with her own opinion on how the two assets compare.
Using a graph of gold relative to the money supply (M2), he noted that the ratio “is really as high as it’s ever been, except during the Great Depression,” a time when the money supply was actually shrinking and the dollar was devalued against gold. Today, on the contrary, money growth has returned to being positive.
He argued that many gold buyers are still positioned for a wave of delayed inflation due to the COVID-era liquidity surge, but history shows that gold can fall sharply once inflation fears dissipate.
Cathie Wood compared the current environment to that of the early 1980s, when gold plummeted after peaking.
She said:
“In 1980, gold peaked at $850… and over the next five years… it fell 67%. Why was that? It was because Reaganomics was working and investors decided to focus on the stock market and the bond market… The dollar became very strong. The dollar became better than gold.”
And he added: “.So yes, the price of gold can go down. And we believe we are moving toward more than just a Reaganomics market. “We think this is Reaganomics on steroids, based especially on the tax cuts.”
Related: JPMorgan Says Bitcoin Looks Cheaper Compared to Gold
Reaganomics refers to the economic policies of American President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. They were built on four major pillars:
• tax cuts
• deregulation
• restrictive monetary policy (initially)
• increase in defense spending
“We wouldn’t be surprised if something like this happened over the next four or five years.” Wood was added.
She expects Bitcoin to outperform as liquidity improves and fears about inflation give way to concerns about deflation and productivity shocks.
Addressing the recent drop, Wood said that Bitcoin’s “drop… was more severe than we expected,” blaming “liquidity squeezes and restrictions” in recent months. But it closed on a familiar bullish note:
“If we are right, we believe that the Bitcoin/gold ratio will resume its uptrend, especially if what I said when talking about the gold/M2 chart is correct.”
In simpler wordsBitcoin will outperform gold in the long term.
Bitcoin fell to $88,841 today, extending its pullback from recent highs near $126,000.
Over the past week, Bitcoin has fallen slightly against gold, with the BTC/XAU chart down 2.49%. The outlook for one year is more dramatic. Bitcoin has risen in dollar terms, but still underperforms gold by 44.22% in relative terms.
However, the long-term chart tells a very different story. In five years, Bitcoin has outperformed gold by 114.80% and, over a full cycle horizon, the BTC/XAU ratio remains at an extraordinary 5,341.58%.
On policy, Wood said both fiscal and monetary levers are tilting toward easing and that “if this administration wants the economy to be really in good shape by the time of the midterm elections, they really have to start providing liquidity now.”
Economically, he described the last few years as a “three-year consecutive recession.”
Housing, which he called “very weak,” could be “next year’s biggest surprise,” helped by lower rates and price cuts on new homes to offset high inventories.
He said the odds of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut on Dec. 10 are “80-90%.” That means he expects the Federal Reserve to begin lowering rates imminently.
Wood noted that pro-crypto Kevin Hassett is currently the “best chance” of becoming the next Federal Reserve chair.
Related: Explained: What is a stablecoin?
This story was originally published by TheStreet on December 7, 2025, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a preferred source by clicking here.
