ARK Invest sells Coinbase shares for the first time after ETFs

Yesterday, the ETFs managed by ARK Invest sold over $34 million worth of Coinbase shares. 

It was since the launch of the new Bitcoin ETFs on the markets that they did not actually make such significant sales of COIN shares. 

Ark Invest: The sale of Coinbase shares

There are three ETFs from Ark Invest that own Coinbase shares: ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK).

To be honest, these three ETFs have been selling COIN shares since June of last year, but after the launch of the new Bitcoin ETFs, they had significantly slowed down their selling pace.

The peak maximum of COIN shares collectively owned by the ETFs managed by Ark was over 8.2 million shares, which decreased to 7 million in October of last year. 

Starting from early December, this number had started to decrease, eventually reaching 5.4 million the day after the launch of the new ETFs on Bitcoin on the US stock exchanges.

Until a few days ago they were still 5.3 million, but yesterday they dropped to 5.1 million. 

So from June to October they had sold 1.2 million, while from the beginning of December to the beginning of January they had sold another 1.6 million in just over a month. 

In the last few days they have sold more than 200,000. 

It should be remembered that the Coinbase shares sold in the last six months were purchased in the first half of 2023, when their market price was below $80.

They started selling significantly when the price exceeded $100 per share, with the majority of sales made at a price between $120 and $180.

So they sold to monetize the earnings. 

The price of Coinbase shares

Although the Coinbase stock debuted on the stock market in April 2021 at an incredible price of $380, rising to over $420 in just a few days, it had lost a lot during the 2022 bear market. 

Already in November 2021, when Bitcoin reached its all-time high, the price had dropped to $320, closing 2021 at $250. 

In the course of 2022, it even dropped to $32, and that was the year when Ark ETFs bought the most Coinbase shares. 

In the course of 2023, the price of COIN shares had experienced a small rebound, but before the middle of the year, it had almost never managed to exceed $80. 

The real awakening happened only starting from July, which is not by chance the month in which Ark’s ETFs began to sell, after almost two years of accumulation.

In October 2023, however, the price had returned to $70, but only to then start a strong rebound that brought them to over $180 by the end of the year. 

2024 started with a correction, which however stopped at around $120, while in the last seven days they have started to grow again until reaching the current $160. 

Therefore, it is a title whose stock value is sometimes even more volatile than that of Bitcoin. Suffice it to say that from October to December it recorded a sensational +160% in just over two months, followed by a -38% in the following month and finally by a +36% in one week. 

However, it is worth noting that Coinbase is still the largest relative asset in all three of Ark’s ETFs that own it (ARKF, ARKW, and ARKK). 

Ark and Bitcoin

It should not be forgotten that the ETFs managed by Ark also invest in Bitcoin. 

In the past, they had bought both many shares of the ETF BITO (ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF) and many of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.

In particular, it was the ARKW ETF (Ark Next Generation Internet) that had invested indirectly in Bitcoin in this way, but following the launch of the Ark ARKB ETF (ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF) on the market, they preferred to liquidate all BITO and GBTC shares in favor of their own Bitcoin ETF shares. 

Currently, the ARK Bitcoin ETF is the third individual asset by relative share within the ARKW ETF, with over 128 million dollars. The first asset of this ETF is indeed Coinbase shares with less than 162 million dollars. 

Overall, ARKB has now reached an AUM of almost 1.3 billion dollars, so ARKW owns less than a tenth of it. 

Although Ark is not the owner of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, but only the sponsor (21Shares is the manager), it is now a fund that holds almost 23,000 BTC on behalf of its owners, namely those who own the shares that are traded on the stock exchange.

This is the fifth largest Bitcoin ETF in the world, including Grayscale’s, and within a few days or weeks it seems destined to become the fourth.