ARK Invest, one of the ten companies that issued a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States, continues to sell its Coinbase assets as the stock price exceeds $270. According to a transaction notice, ARK sold 199,526 shares of Coinbase from its ETF funds on March 21st. The investment firm founded by Cathie Wood removed approximately $35 million worth of 133,533 shares from the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) fund, based on Coinbase’s closing price of $262 on March 21st.
ARK Invest’s COIN Move
ARK also removed 59,215 shares from the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) and 6,778 shares from the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF). The total sale was valued at $52.3 million based on the closing price on March 21st. The sale occurred as Coinbase shares continued their steady growth, surpassing $270 for the first time since December 2021. According to TradingView, Coinbase shares briefly exceeded $276 on March 21st.
ARK’s latest Coinbase sale is one of the most significant to date in 2024. The previous large sale happened on March 11th, with ARK selling 270,365 Coinbase shares. On February 16th, ARK made its largest Coinbase sale of 2024 so far by selling a total of 499,149 COIN shares from three ETF funds.
According to data from TradingView, on that day, Coinbase shares were trading at about $190, which is 37% lower than the current price. At the time of writing this article, Coinbase shares have shown an approximate 250% increase over the last six months. ARK has been actively divesting Coinbase shares in 2023 and early 2024. The company had purchased a large amount of Coinbase shares following its market debut in 2021.
ARK Invest Continues Its Sales
In addition to Coinbase, ARK is also actively selling shares of Block, a Bitcoin-focused fintech company founded by Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey. On March 21st, ARK sold an additional 188,519 shares of Block from the ARKK fund, generating $15.8 million.
Furthermore, ARK sold approximately $2 million worth of 93,002 Robinhood shares from the ARKW ETF fund because the fund’s Robinhood shares were approaching 5% of the portfolio’s total weight, in compliance with Rule 12d3-1. Rule 12d3-1 prohibits ETFs from purchasing more than 5% of their total assets in securities from a registered investment adviser, broker, dealer, or underwriter.
ARK had been selling Robinhood shares in accordance with Rule 12d3-1 for some time. The firm also removed 583,563 Robinhood shares from the ARKK fund on March 14th without referencing compliance with Rule 12d3-1.
