On January 5, Cathie Wood's ARK Invest divested an additional 133,823 shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. The day commenced with Coinbase's stock at $152.67 and concluded at $153.98. In a subsequent announcement on X (formerly Twitter) on January 8, ARK Invest clarified that the transactions executed on January 5 comprised the sale of 107,151 Coinbase shares from its ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), along with 15,892 shares from its ARK Next Generation, and 10,780 shares from both the Internet ETF (ARKW) and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF).
The divestment of Coinbase shares amounted to approximately $20.6 million based on the stock's closing price at $153.98. Concurrently, ARK Invest also reduced its holdings in Stratasys while acquiring shares in Palantir Technologies and Iridium Communications.
Moreover, ARK Invest had previously sold off 166,000 Coinbase shares on January 3, valued at about $25 million, followed by an additional divestment of 237,000 shares on December 5, 2023. Over December and January, ARK Invest amassed roughly $78 million from its divestment of Coinbase stock.
Notwithstanding the ongoing divestments, ARK still retains a significant stake in Coinbase, holding the largest position in the ARKK ETF (10.04%), ARKW ETF (10.37%), and ARKF ETF (13.41%). Despite the divestment, Coinbase continues to be the primary asset in ARK's portfolios.
The sale of Coinbase shares arrives amid anticipation within the cryptocurrency community for the approval or rejection of the initial spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which would be accessible to U.S. investors.
ARK Invest, under Cathie Wood's leadership, is among the fourteen entities that submitted applications to the SEC for a spot BTC ETF. ARK's spot Bitcoin ETF, ARK 21Shares, was developed in partnership with the Swiss company 21Shares, known for its cryptocurrency exchange-traded products. It was among the first to update the spot Bitcoin ETF filing before the SEC's December 29 deadline. As of January 4, the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF had filed a registration notice with the SEC, which is expected to provide its decision by January 10 regarding the ETF application.
