Ark Invest, the investment firm run by long-time Bitcoin bull Cathie Wood, purchased 420,949 shares of Coinbase (COIN) worth little under $21.4 million, according to the firm’s daily trade brief.
The largest part of the total amount of purchased shares—roughly 330,00—went towards ARKK, the company’s flagship exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests in companies targeting disruptive innovation.
An additional 54,466 Coinbase shares were added to Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), with another 36,022 COIN reserved for ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), according to publicly disclosed data.
COIN was trading at $50.83 at Tuesday's close, down 10.78% over the day. Shares in Coinbase are down almost 80% since the start of the year, underperforming Bitcoin (BTC), which is down about 74% over the span.
In its shareholder letter last week, Coinbase reported net revenue of $576 million for the third quarter, down 28% from $803 million in Q2 2022, with trading volume dropping from $217 billion to $159 billion.
The company’s subscription and service revenue during Q3 did, however, grow from $147 million to $211 million.
Coinbase says 'no material exposure' to FTX
Ark’s latest increase in Coinbase stock holdings comes two weeks after the firm purchased shares in the crypto exchange at the end of October when the firm bought a total of 10,880 COIN for ARKF.
The purchase also comes amid Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong addressing concerns about his firm's exposure to FTX, the popular crypto exchange run by Sam Bankman-Fried, who on Tuesday announced a preliminary agreement with Binance that will see the latter acquire FTX.
According to Armstrong, Coinbase doesn't have “any material exposure” to FTX or the exchange’s native token FTT.
Similarly, Coinbase has no exposure to Alameda, the trading firm closely associated with Bankman-Fried, added Armstrong.