Bitcoin
How Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has been cashing in on Bitcoin’s rally
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest recently made trades worth millions of dollars as Bitcoin rallied to the $35K-price mark.
- ARK Invest offloaded Coinbase, GBTC shares worth $9.4 million.
- The Bitcoin rally was triggered by enthusiasm around BlackRock and GBTC moving closer to launching their BTC ETFs.
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest is in the news again due to its recent trades worth millions of dollars.
On 23 October, ARK offloaded Coinbase [COIN] and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust [GBTC] shares worth $5.77 million. It shopped for Robinhood Markets, Inc. [HOOD] shares worth $2.38 million.
Cathie Wood and Ark Invest’s trade activity from today 10/23 pic.twitter.com/3SilCpHQFG
— Ark Invest Daily (@ArkkDaily) October 24, 2023
On 24 October, ARK offloaded COIN and GBTC shares worth $3.61 million. It purchased HOOD shares worth $1.83 million.
Cathie Wood and Ark Invest’s trade activity from today 10/24 pic.twitter.com/6I9S5sRUvH
— Ark Invest Daily (@ArkkDaily) October 25, 2023
A closer look…
Let us have a closer look at these transactions that took place over the last two days.
ARK sold 42,613 COIN shares worth $3.29 million and 21,062 COIN shares worth $1.72 million on 23 and 24 October.
Last month, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong confirmed his platform was implementing Bitcoin’s [BTC] Lightning Network payment protocol. ARK Invest CEO had applauded the move.
Bitcoin is the world’s digital monetary system, and Lightning is Bitcoin’s payments layer. Coinbase’s integration with Lightning will give its 100 million users an on-ramp to faster and cheaper bitcoin transactions. Hats off to Coinbase! https://t.co/zJ5HqHvyrz
— Cathie Wood (@CathieDWood) September 13, 2023
ARK also offloaded 100,739 GBTC shares worth $2.48 million and 72,509 GBTC shares worth $1.89 million on 23 and 24 October.
Meanwhile, HOOD caught the attention of ARK as the asset manager shopped for 259,628 shares worth $2.38 million and 197,285 shares worth 1.83 million on 23 and 24 October.
Enthusiasm around Bitcoin ETFs spurs bull run
ARK Invest executed these transactions as Bitcoin’s price was buoyant around the range of $33K-$35K. At times, it nearly touched the $35K-mark.
Source: BTC/USD, TradingView
The market enthusiasm around two Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) led to the recent rally.
The first case related to the New York-based global investment giant, BlackRock. Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst at Bloomberg, amongst others, notified that the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) had listed Blackrock’s iShares spot Bitcoin ETF.
The iShares Bitcoin Trust has been listed on the DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, which clears NASDAQ trades). And the ticker will be $IBTC. Again all part of the process of bringing ETF to market.. h/t @martypartymusic pic.twitter.com/8PQP3h2yW0
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 23, 2023
It led to speculations that the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) was soon going to approve BlackRock’s application.
However, it later turned out the said ETF had been on the DTCC website since August. The listing house had added it as a “standard practice” for potential ETFs.
The second case related to Grayscale Investments. Notably, Grayscale’s case against the SEC reached its conclusion on 23 October.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals finally delivered its verdict, forcing SEC to scrap its rejection on the conversion of GBTC to a spot Bitcoin ETF.
Though the regulator can still reject the application after another review, Grayscale has already announced it will take the matter to court once again.
Notably, ARK is among an array of applicants waiting for the SEC to approve its spot Bitcoin ETF. Two weeks earlier, it submitted an amended application, furnishing additional details.
ARK had first filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF in 2021. Since then, the SEC has rejected all of its applications.
