Ark Invest chief Cathie Wood says Bitcoin supply cap makes it scarcer than gold

Wood attributed golds roughly 166% gain since October 2022 to demand linked to global wealth creation outpacing the metals annual supply growth, which she estimated at about 1.8%. She wrote that incremental demand for gold may be exceeding new supply, while noting that gold miners can increase production when incentives rise.

By comparison, the report described Bitcoin issuance as predetermined. Wood wrote that Bitcoin is mathematically metered to expand about 0.82% per year for the next two years, before the annual growth rate decelerates to about 0.41%. Because that schedule cannot be accelerated by miners, the report argued that shifts in demand, including demand expressed through spot exchange traded products, would not be met by additional supply.

The 2026 Outlook also compared macro indicators tied to gold. Wood wrote that the ratio of golds market capitalization to the M2 money supply has reached levels last seen in the early 1930s and the 1980s, which she described as extreme periods for that measure.

On portfolio construction, the report stated that the correlation between Bitcoin and gold is lower than the correlation between the S and P 500 and bonds, and argued that this relationship could make Bitcoin a diversification tool for allocators. Ark did not provide product specific guidance in the excerpt, framing the discussion as an assessment of supply dynamics and cross asset behavior.

As GNcrypto covered earlier, Bitcoin slid back toward $95,000 on 16 January 2026 after topping $97,870 intraday a day earlier, as U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF net inflows cooled to $100.1 million on 15 January from $843.6 million the prior session. SoSoValue data showed BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) posted $315.7 million of inflows, while Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) saw outflows of $188.8 million and $36.4 million. The move coincided with Senate delays to a crypto market-structure bill after a planned markup was canceled, and the Crypto Fear and Greed Index fell 12 points to 49, returning to “neutral.”