ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood has compared Hyperliquid to Solana’s early-stage promise, calling it “the new kid on the block.”

“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 a recent interview on the Master Investor podcast.

ARK Invest currently holds three main crypto assets in its public funds, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL). The firm’s exposure to Solana is through Breera Sports, which Wood clarified is tied to the Solana treasury and supported by Middle Eastern investors. She also noted advisory ties to the project through economist Art Laffer.

Wood did not confirm any position in Hyperliquid but described the protocol as one to watch. Her remarks come as competition between perpetual futures DEXs has been heating up after Aster launched a token earlier this month and saw its trading volume and open interest surge past Hyperliquid.

Related: Aster can flip HYPE by market cap and rally another 480%: Analyst

Bitcoin is the true cryptocurrency

Despite the growing number of tokens in the market, Wood believes the future of crypto belongs to a small set of dominant networks. “We don’t think there are going to be very many cryptocurrencies,” she said. “Bitcoin owns the cryptocurrency space when it comes to pure crypto.”

While Ethereum powers the DeFi ecosystem, Wood pointed out Bitcoin’s role as a monetary system, citing its fixed supply and resilience. She also noted the emerging importance of stablecoins but clarified that Bitcoin remains at the core of Ark’s long-term thesis.

Wood acknowledged that the fund also holds some derivatives such as Uniswap and market protocols related to Solana, but said the core focus remains narrow by design. “If you’re talking about the big boys or girls, those are the big three right now,” she said.

Related: Bitwise files for spot Hyperliquid ETF amid perp DEX wars

Retail and quants flock to DEXs

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are seeing growing adoption among retail traders and semi-professional quants, driven by incentives like airdrops, low fees, and fast execution, according to Bitget Wallet chief marketing officer Jamie Elkaleh.