Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Offloads $5.8 Million Coinbase And GBTC Shares Even As Bitcoin Soars

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest Offloads $5.8 Million Coinbase And GBTC Shares Even As Bitcoin Soars

Updated: 24 October 2023

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Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest offloaded $5.8 million shares in Coinbase and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) even as crypto prices surge amid optimism over the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Ark sold $3.3 million worth of Coinbase shares and almost $2.5 million worth of GBTC.

Ark’s Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) sold 32,158 Coinbase shares and Ark Fintech Innovation ETF offloaded 10,455 shares.

ARKW, a fund that invests in cloud computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, internet-based goods and services, and media innovations, also sold more than 100,000 GBTC shares at $24.71 each.

Cathie Wood and Ark Invest's trade activity from today 10/23 pic.twitter.com/3SilCpHQFG

— Ark Invest Daily (@ArkkDaily) October 24, 2023

Ark Invest Sells Into A Crypto Rally

The sales came as cryptocurrencies surged. Bitcoin was up more than 11% at $34,395 at 11:20am ET.

Coinbase has risen more than 13% so far today after surging 161% this year. GBTC has soared 201% year-to-date, in part because of optimism over its conversion to a spot Bitcoin ETF.

With more than $130 million invested in the trust, Ark Invest is GBTC’s second-largest shareholder. GBTC is also the largest holding in ARKW, with a weight of 10.42%. About 9% of the portfolio owned by ARKW is comprised of Coinbase’s COIN.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs on the Horizon

Grayscale’s recent court victory over the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has increased optimism over the approval of long-awaited spot Bitcoin ETFs.

While the ruling does not assure the applicants that their applications will be approved, it reduces the chances of denial and forces the SEC to find more substantial reasons to deny them.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs are funds that let investors participate in the top cryptocurrency without having to own the actual commodity, protecting them from the risks of direct exposure. The SEC has rejected or delayed applications for such ETFs several times due to worries about market manipulation.

One of the applications currently in review is Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, which showed up on a list run by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation on Monday. Markets took the move to indicate that clearance may soon be forthcoming, contributing to the market’s rally.

A ticker for BlackRock’s iShare Bitcoin Trust (ETF) has been listed on Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas #BlackRock #Bitcoin $BTC $IBTC #Crypto #CryptoNews pic.twitter.com/xU7LF1Wztu

— Forten Business ™ (@FortenBusiness) October 24, 2023

There are 12 applications for spot bitcoin ETFs pending SEC clearance. Among them is Ark’s which was filed in collaboration with 21Shares. All the applications were delayed by the regulator last month, which prolonged the current assessment process by at least one more month.

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