Bitcoin and Ether are now functioning as “risk-off” assets and as a “flight to safety” for investors amid macroeconomic unpredictability, Wood said

Recent turbulence in the banking sector has demonstrated that Bitcoin and Ether can hold out against an unsteady economy, surpass other asset classes and function such as gold, according to ARK Invest chief executive Cathie Wood — however one long-time investor still is not sold.

Wood said in an April 15 interview that Bitcoin’s strength all through the latest banking turmoil has been the most exceptional of all measures her company is tracking.

Bitcoin and Ether are now functioning as “risk-off” assets and as a “flight to safety” for investors amid macroeconomic unpredictability, Wood said.

She said: They are going to disrupt the conventional world order. What are Bitcoin and Ether doing? I mean by the very fact that they are being considered flight to safety such as gold, that is truly interesting and indicates much wider-based adoption and acceptance than I think most people recognize.

We would say that there is a flight to safety, definitely driven by crypto assets, and it is telling us that the world is changing and will continue to change. You cannot stop innovation, Wood said.

She believes crypto currency will ultimately become an “election issue” when the sector becomes more widely accepted and the public can more distinctly see the types of regulatory steps that the US authorities are applying on the sector to maintain centralized control of money and monetary policy.

However, not all share her ideas.

Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, stated in an interview on April 12 that Bitcoin could not serve as an “effective currency” as it is too volatile for central banks to adopt.

He said: Bitcoin is neither an effective store hold of wealth nor a means of exchange so it is not an effective currency. It has a volatility that has no relation to effectively anything. It is a very, very poor substitute to gold.

They can ban (Bitcoin). They can regulate it. Central banks and countries do not want it anyway, Dalio stated, saying that it receives much more attention than its size.

He supported his views by indicating that gold is the third biggest reserve held by central banks, only behind the U.S. dollar and euros.