Cathie Wood, the founder of Ark Invest, has shown her inclination toward the Cash App payment system which uses the Bitcoin Lightning Network. Ark Invest dumped all of the firm’s holdings of PayPal as Block’s Cash App has much more conviction, especially when it comes to Bitcoin.
PayPal, a financial technology company, operates the payment app Venmo as a direct competitor with Cash App. Wood highlighted that her decision was attributed to Cash App’s comprehensive approach toward digital asset wallet integration. Although Venmo has begun to accommodate Bitcoin, the investor described it as “more of a follower” of Cash App. She Ark Invest tends to place its bets on who it believes will be the winner. Thus, the crypto investment company chose Block over PayPal.
Wood, a big Bitcoin believer, explained that her company’s conviction in Cash App stems from the organically-driven growth in users, in comparison to Venmo’s top-down approach. She said retail investors have driven the crypto market up to this point. Wood believes that most institutional investors are not positioned the way they ultimately will be. Retail is already leading the charge.
It should be noted that Venmo currently accommodates 70 million users and $850 million profit, while Cash App has 44 million users and in 2021, it recorded a $2.03 billion profit. Analysts say both apps’ ability to net profits could be a motivating factor for Ark’s decision.
