ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood says Hyperliquid reminds her of Solana’s early breakout, but insists Bitcoin remains the centerpiece of her long-term crypto thesis.

ARK Invest founder and CEO Cathie Wood has drawn parallels between decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid and the early rise of Solana, describing the protocol as “the new kid on the block” that is worth paying attention to.

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“It’s exciting. It reminds me of Solana in the earlier days, and Solana has proven its worth and is, you know, there with the big boys,” Wood said during an interview on the Master Investor podcast.

While she didn’t confirm whether ARK currently holds a position in Hyperliquid, her remarks come as competition among perpetual futures DEXs intensifies. Rival platform Aster recently launched its token, sending trading volumes and open interest sharply higher — even surpassing Hyperliquid in some metrics.

Bitcoin Remains the Anchor of ARK’s Strategy

Despite the buzz around new DeFi protocols, Wood reaffirmed that Bitcoin remains the bedrock of ARK’s crypto strategy.

“We don’t think there are going to be very many cryptocurrencies,” she explained. “Bitcoin owns the cryptocurrency space when it comes to pure crypto.”

She acknowledged Ethereum’s central role in powering decentralized finance but stressed Bitcoin’s unmatched position as a monetary network, citing its fixed supply and resilience through multiple market cycles.

Wood also pointed to stablecoins as an increasingly important piece of the ecosystem, though she made it clear that Bitcoin remains at the heart of Ark’s long-term thesis.

Beyond BTC and ETH, Wood noted that ARK holds a selective exposure to other blockchain infrastructure plays, including Uniswap and Solana-linked market protocols. “If you’re talking about the big boys or girls, those

are the big three right now,” she added.

DEX Adoption Surges Among Retail and Quants

Decentralized exchanges are seeing strong growth, especially among retail traders and quantitative funds drawn to airdrops, faster execution, and lower fees.

“Retail and semi-professional quants are moving to DEXs in increasing numbers,” said Jamie Elkaleh, CMO at Bitget Wallet. He added that while institutions still rely heavily on centralized exchanges for fiat access, compliance, and brokerage services, the performance gap between CEXs and order-book DEXs is closing.

Platforms like Hyperliquid and dYdX v4 are now offering liquidity and execution speeds comparable to centralized exchanges — a shift that could further fuel competition in the derivatives sector.