Ark Invest Dumps PayPal Holdings for Crypto-Friendly Cash App

Cathie Wood, founder of cryptocurrency investment company Ark Invest, has dumped all of the firm’s holdings of PayPal and has expressed longer term confidence in the growth of Cash App’s payment system, which is integrated with the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

Wood explained the reason behind the firm’s decision to dump its PayPal holdings at the recent Bitcoin 2022 Conference in Miami, which ended on April 9.

Wood said in an interview with CNBC on April 8 that the decision to drop PayPal for Cash App was because of the latter’s comprehensive approach towards integrating with digital assets. She said that even though Venmo has also started to accommodate Bitcoin (BTC), it is still following after Cash App.

Wood said: “We tend to put our bets with who we believe will be the winners… As we consolidated our portfolios during a risk-off period, we chose Block over PayPal.”

Wood continued that her firm’s strong belief in Cash App stems from what she perceives to be the organically-driven growth in users. This is different to Cash App’s competitor, Venmo, who adopts “more of a top-down approach.”

In general, Wood feels that the cryptocurrency market’s growth has been driven mainly by retail investors up until this point, stating: “I don’t think most institutional investors are positioned the way they ultimately will be. Retail has really led the charge here.”

Following Ark Invest taking a bullish stance on Cash App, its Bitcoin product lead, Miles Suter, announced on April 7 that American users would be able to automatically invest a portion of their paychecks into Bitcoin.