Ark Invest Buys $8 Million in Coinbase Shares While Selling Bitcoin ETF Holdings
Ark Invest purchased 38,865 Coinbase shares worth $8 million for its Next Generation Internet exchange-traded fund (ARKW) on Monday. At the same time, the investment firm sold $8.2 million worth of its own spot Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) as the cryptocurrency market gave back gains from the weekend - based on The Block's reporting..
This transaction follows a similar move just last week when the Cathie Wood-led firm bought $8.7 million in COIN shares for the first time since October while selling $8.6 million of ARKB for the first time since September. The pattern suggests a consistent rebalancing strategy.
Ark Invest maintains a portfolio management policy that prevents any single holding from exceeding 10% of a fund's portfolio. This approach helps maintain diversification within its funds and explains the regular adjustments when asset values change significantly relative to other holdings.
The market movements come amid renewed interest in cryptocurrency following President Donald Trump's announcement of plans to establish a Crypto Strategic Reserve. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong weighed in on the proposal, suggesting on social media platform X that "Just Bitcoin would probably be the best option — simplest, and clear story as successor to gold." Armstrong noted he was still developing his thoughts but offered that a market cap-weighted index could be an alternative approach if more variety was desired.
According to company disclosures, Coinbase is currently the sixth-largest holding in Ark's ARKW fund with a 6% weighting, valued at approximately $99.1 million as of March 3. Despite the purchase, Coinbase shares closed down 4.6% on Monday at $205.75, representing a nearly 20% loss year-to-date. The company is currently valued at $38.3 billion.
ARKB remains the top allocation in Ark's Next Generation Internet fund with a 10.3% weighting, valued at approximately $169.8 million. The other top positions in the ARKW fund include:
- Tesla
- Roku
- Roblox
- Robinhood
Despite Ark's recent sale of ARKB shares, the fund was the only U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF to attract net inflows on Monday, adding $58.2 million. In contrast, BlackRock's IBIT and Grayscale's GBTC saw outflows of $78 million and $54.4 million respectively, contributing to total net outflows of $74.2 million for the day. Since its January 2024 launch, Ark's spot Bitcoin ETF has generated $2.8 billion in net inflows and currently manages $3.2 billion in assets.
