In brief
- Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest bought Coinbase stock valued at $246 million for its funds.
- To make room for the Coinbase stock, ARK sold $178 million in Tesla shares.
Three funds operated by Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management bought as much as $246 million worth of Coinbase shares on Wednesday when the US largest cryptocurrency exchange debuted on the Nasdaq, Reuters reported.
As per the company’s daily trade summary, ARK Innovation ETF, ARK Fintech Innovation ETF and ARK Next Generation Internet ETF snapped a total of 749,205 shares of Coinbase Global Inc.
The largest chunk of the purchase–which amounted to $168 million in Coinbase stock–was added to the firm’s flagship ARK Innovation fund; the remainder of the money was allocated to the other two funds.
Remarkably, to make room for the Coinbase stock, ARK sold $178 million in Tesla shares, as well as a $4.4 million stake in Intercontinental Exchange, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Last month, ARK said it expected Tesla stock to reach $3,000 by 2025, and despite ditching a portion of its shares, the electric car manufacturer is still the largest combined holding for the ARK Innovation ETF and the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF.
More indirect exposure to Bitcoin
ARK Invest’s latest move shouldn’t come as a big surprise though, as it’s in line with Cathie Wood’s previous statements about Bitcoin. According to the firm’s head, it represents a new asset class and may serve as a reserve currency in the future. The New York-based company already had indirect exposure to Bitcoin through its investment in Tesla’s stock, and is now doubling down on that with its purchase of Coinbase shares.
Founded in 2014, ARK Invest specializes in what it calls “thematic investing in disruptive innovation.” The firm’s ARK Innovation fund, which has a stake in companies like Square, Shopify, and Zoom, saw its assets under management rise from $1.86 billion at the end of 2019 to almost $22 billion in March this year.
Valued at over $85 billion, Coinbase debuted its stock, $COIN, on Nasdaq on Wednesday via direct listing and concluded its first day of public trading with a share price of $328–up 31% from the reference price of $250.