During the bloodbath that plagued financial markets on Monday, Cathie Wood’s investment management firm Ark Invest loaded up on shares of the largest American cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, ending months of selling the stock.
According to a tweet from Ark Invest outlining its trade activity for August 5, the company purchased 93,797 Coinbase shares (COIN) worth approximately $17.8 million at an average price of $189 per share.
Ark Invest Buys Coinbase Shares
Ark Invest made the COIN purchase through three exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), the Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), and the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW). ARKK acquired 65,165 COIN worth $12.3 million, ARKF purchased 15,629 COIN worth $3 million, and ARKW bought 13,003 shares valued at $2.5 million.
The purchases marked Ark Invest’s first since June 2023, when the company bought $21 million worth of COIN. Since then, the asset management giant has been offloading the Coinbase stock to realize profits as the asset surged in value alongside the crypto market.
CryptoPotato reported some of the sales in March and May this year. In mid-March, Ark Invest executed its second-largest weekly COIN sale since July 2023, offloading roughly $150 million in shares amounting to 580,000. Towards the end of that month, the company slashed its holdings again by 74,291 COIN, valued at $20.8 million. Ark made another huge sale in early May, offloading 70,616 COIN for $15 million.
At the time of these sales, especially in mid-March, bitcoin (BTC) was on a northward trajectory, hitting an all-time high of $73,000 and dragging the crypto industry alongside. Crypto stocks were not left behind as shares like COIN surged above $280 from the $117 level it hovered around in early February.
Not Just Coinbase
Ark Invest saw the market’s recent plunge as an opportunity to increase its COIN stash in preparation for future rallies. The Coinbase stock fell as low as $173 on Monday before recovering slightly to $197. According to TradingView data, the asset was trading at $191 at the time of writing.
Notably, COIN was not the crypto-related stock Ark Invest purchased on Monday. The firm also acquired 681,885 shares worth $11.2 million in the crypto and stock trading app Robinhood. Conversely, Ark sold $26 million worth of Jack Dorsey’s Block shares.