In brief
- ARK Invest sold $8.7 million worth of its own spot Bitcoin ETF and $13.3 million in Coinbase shares on Tuesday.
- The move came after Bitcoin briefly surged past $123,000 and COIN hit a record, pushing its market cap above $100 billion.
- ARK may have been locking in gains ahead of the CPI release or shifting toward higher-return assets, an analyst told Decrypt.
Cathie Wood’s investment firm sold 225,742 shares of its ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) from its Next Generation Internet fund (ARKW) on Tuesday, according to the firm’s daily trade notifications reviewed by Decrypt. The firm simultaneously sold 34,207 shares of Coinbase Global Inc.
“They may have been looking to capitalize on recent market momentum while reducing exposure ahead of the CPI release,” Nansen Analyst Nicolai Sondergaard told Decrypt about potential motivations behind the sales.
“It could also reflect a strategy focused on higher-risk, higher-reward assets or possibly favoring simple assets that have had strong returns relative to their underlying fundamentals,” Sondergaard said.
The sale came after Bitcoin soared to a new all-time high above $123,000 on Monday. The largest crypto by market value subsequently retreated and was trading around $119,200 at the time of publication. BTC was up by 2.4% over the last 24 hours, according to crypto markets data provider CoinGecko.
COIN had reached a record high of $398.50 on Monday, pushing its market capitalization past $100 billion, as per Google Finance data. It topped $400 for the first time on Wednesday before falling below that threshold at closing.
This marks Coinbase’s second major sale this month as the firm sold $95 million worth of COIN shares across multiple ETFs as part of a rebalancing strategy. The firm unloaded 77,956 shares from ARKK, 29,802 shares from ARKW, and 17,134 shares from ARKF.
That sale coincided with regulatory pressures on Coinbase, including a Supreme Court decision that declined to hear the exchange’s appeal in Harper v. Faulkender regarding IRS access to user transaction data.
The Bitcoin ETF sale represents a notable move for ARK, which has been one of the more aggressive institutional adopters of crypto.
ARKB remains the fourth-largest holding in the Next Generation Internet fund with a 7.2% weighting, valued at approximately $157.2 million.
The fund also maintains significant Bitcoin exposure through its other top holdings, including Tesla and Robinhood.
ARK’s bitcoin ETF experienced net outflows of $6.2 million on Tuesday, bucking the broader trend that saw combined spot bitcoin ETFs record $403.1 million in net inflows for the day, according to U.K.-based asset manager Farside Investors.
BlackRock’s IBIT led inflows with $416.3 million, contributing to a nine-day streak totaling $4.4 billion across all Bitcoin ETFs.
ARK’s rebalancing strategy involves maintaining diversification across its actively managed funds, with current positions showing Coinbase as the second-largest holding in ARKW at 7.9% weighting worth around $172.8 million.
The firm’s Bitcoin ETF has accumulated $2.9 billion in cumulative net inflows since its debut, with $5 billion in assets under management.
Bitcoin dropped below $117,000 earlier on Tuesday before rallying, according to CoinGecko data.
COIN has gained over 48% in the past month as the crypto rally has driven increased trading volumes on the platform.
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