Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has sold another 43,956 Coinbase shares in a transaction worth $5.3 million as the stock hits an 18-month high at $119.7 per share.
According to a report, ARK sold 43,956 Coinbase shares from its ARK Fintech Innovation ETF on November 27. According to TradingView data, the transaction was worth $5.3 million, as each share of Coinbase stock had been priced at $119.7 at the time of the sale.
On November 21, 2023, rival exchange Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering and sanctions violations in the United States, causing Coinbase’s shares to soar to an all-time high of eighteen months.
TradingView data indicates that Coinbase stock has increased by 168% year-over-year and over 220% since January 2023. A few months after its trading debut in April 2021, the stock set a new all-time peak of $319 in September 2021. Since then, it has declined by approximately 70%.
ARK has sold Coinbase shares on multiple occasions throughout 2023. In October, Cathie Wood’s investment firm divested 63,675 Coinbase shares worth $5.1 million from its ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW).
In July 2023, when Coinbase stock was trading around $90 per share, ARK was also actively selling shares. Based on trading data provided by ARK, the company divested over $103 million worth of Coinbase shares in July.
Additionally, ARK has been selling Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares aggressively. The ARKW unloaded 94,624 GBTC shares for approximately $3 million on November 24, following the sale of nearly 700,000 GBTC shares in the previous month.
Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, asserts that ARK’s divestment from GTBC does not reflect the company’s lack of confidence in Bitcoin or preparation for its forthcoming spot Bitcoin ETF, 21Shares, and ARK Invest.
Balchunas wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on November 27, “Neither is true,” about his previous assertions that ARK was possibly selling victors and vice versa to maintain desired weightings.
“GBT has increased by 76% since August, requiring ARK to sell a substantial number of shares to maintain a 9%-ish weighting.” “However, despite this selling, its weighting has increased,” noted the ETF analyst.
Concurrently with the sale of Coinbase and GBTC, ARK has acquired several crypto-related equities. ARKF acquired 252,421 shares of the cryptocurrency-friendly banking application SoFi on November 27.
According to TradingView, ARK has acquired a cumulative sum of 1.6 million SoFi shares year-to-date, equivalent to $11 million. Additionally, ARK has been amassing shares of Robinhood, a cryptocurrency-friendly investment application, purchasing $1.1 million worth of the stock on November 8.
