Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood endorsed on Monday a detailed analysis by her colleague on where value is actually being captured in the cryptocurrency market.
Getting Close to the End User
Lorenzo Valiente, Director of Research at Ark, examined 2025 global cryptocurrency revenue pools and concluded that off-chain and centralized companies are capturing far more value than on-chain protocols and Layer 1 chains.
Findings revealed that off-chain companies, including exchanges, brokers and stablecoin issuers, generated roughly $70 billion in 2025, 8.5x more than on-chain protocols and L1s.
Lorenzo noted that centralized players sit closer to end users by abstracting away cryptocurrency’s complexities—custody, trading, and staking—and monetize that relationship effectively.
“On-chain is clearly in a bear market, but the lesson for protocols, L1s, and on-chain primitives is to build and verticalize more. Get closer to the end user,” he added.
‘Great Perspective’
Wood said the analysis offered a “great perspective” on the best way to have invested in this cryptocurrency cycle.
“Follow the developers, as always, and get as close to the end user as possible,” the veteran investor added.
Wood’s Crypto Optimism
Wood has been bullish on cryptocurrency, with her firm Ark Invest focusing on the "big three" projects with robust ecosystems and utility: Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL).
As for Bitcoin, she has positioned the apex cryptocurrency as the "insurance policy" for wealth protection that many investors are currently seeking.
She views Bitcoin as an ideal hedge against any form of uncertainty. She maintains her $730,000 base case Bitcoin target for 2030.
Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $64,169.07, up 0.99% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Photo courtesy: Sebastian Duda on Shutterstock.com
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