Ark Invest, led by Cathie Wood, has sold nearly $31 million worth of Coinbase shares as Bitcoin approached a new all-time high, nearly reaching the $69,000 mark on March 4.
The investment manager executed the sale of 134,749 Coinbase shares across three of its exchange-traded funds (ETFs): ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), with the transaction valued at $30.88 million.
Following the sale, Coinbase shares saw a significant increase, rising 11.4% to $229.15 in regular trading on the day and gaining an additional 3.8% in after-hours trading.
The rise in Coinbase shares was linked to the surge in Bitcoin prices. A recent report noted that Coinbase experienced a significant outage due to increased traffic as Bitcoin reached the $67,000 mark. Users reported seeing incorrect balances during this time. Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, acknowledged that the traffic exceeded the company’s expectations despite their preparations.
On March 4, Ark Invest also reduced its investment in Robinhood, another cryptocurrency trading platform, by selling 50,600 shares, valued at $841,478, through ARKW and ARKF.
The sale occurred after Robinhood’s fourth-quarter earnings exceeded expectations, marking a strong start to 2024. Analysts have praised Robinhood’s performance, noting its strong finish in 2023 and positive outlook for the future.
Further, Ark Invest sold an additional 686,864 Robinhood shares from its ARKW and ARKF funds the previous week, valued at approximately $11.4 million. Following these transactions, Robinhood shares closed at $16.58 on March 1, showing a more than 12% increase for the week and a 50% rise over the past month, according to data from Yahoo Finance.
On Feb. 29, Robinhood announced the integration of token swaps on the Layer 2 network Arbitrum for its self-custodial crypto wallet, expanding its existing support for Ethereum and Polygon-based swaps.
Meanwhile, Ark Invest took the opportunity to increase its holdings in Meta Platforms, purchasing 12,498 shares through ARKF, amounting to $6.23 million. Despite this acquisition, Meta Platforms shares closed 0.8% lower at $498.19 on Monday.
The series of transactions by Ark Invest reflects the firm’s strategic adjustments to its investment portfolio amid fluctuating market conditions.
