Ark Invest sells further $24 million in Coinbase amid shares hitting yearly highs

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest sold additional tranches of Coinbase shares yesterday, offloading a total of 149,780 COIN ($24.2 million) from two of its funds as the stock reached new yearly highs, according to the company’s latest trade filing.

Of the total amount, Ark sold 132,782 Coinbase shares ($21.5 million) from its Innovation ETF and 16,998 ($2.7 million) from its Next Generation Internet ETF. The investment management firm continues to rebalance its fund weightings amid a recent surge in COIN’s price.

Ark disposed of $5.5 million worth of Coinbase shares on Tuesday. The firm has sold off over $200 million worth of Coinbase stock over the past month.

Coinbase stock closed at $161.86 yesterday, up about 0.4% for the day. However, COIN reached yearly highs of $169.45 earlier on Wednesday before falling approximately 4.5% by market close. Over the past month, Coinbase shares have increased by 60% and by 344% year-to-date, as per TradingView. The stock is still over 50% below its all-time high of approximately $343, set in November 2021.

Ark sells $14 million worth of GBTC

On Wednesday, Ark also sold 398,383 GBTC shares ($14.3 million) from its Next Generation Internet fund, following the $28 million worth of GBTC it offloaded from the same ETF on Monday.

GBTC shares traded for $35.83 at market close yesterday, up 2.6% on the day, 23% over the past month and 336% year-to-date, according to TradingView. The price of GBTC has risen alongside the recent surge in the underlying value of bitcoin — up 2.3% during the past 24 hours, 17.5% over the past month and 165% year-to-date, according to The Block’s price data. Bitcoin is currently trading for around $43,763.

GBTC/USD price chart. Image: TradingView.

Ark’s recent GBTC sales follow a significant narrowing for GBTC’s discount to net asset value in recent months — meaning how much lower the market price of each share is than the value of the bitcoin it represents. GBTC’s discount to NAV has fallen from over 40% in June to around 7.6%, according to YCharts.

GBTC discount to NAV. Image: YCharts.

Ark buys $12 million worth of shares in Jack Dorsey’s Block

Ark also bought 158,334 shares ($12.1 million) in Jack Dorsey’s Block for its Next Generation Internet ETF, following the $26 million worth of the stock it acquired for the fund on Monday. Block shares (SQ) traded for $76.11 at market close yesterday, down 1.6% on the day, up 31% over the past month and rising 15% year-to-date, according to TradingView.

Last month, Block reported a 22% rise in bitcoin gross profit for Q3, bringing in $45 million compared to $37 million during the same period in 2022. The growth was attributed to a rise in the average market price of bitcoin and an uptick in the volume of bitcoin sold to customers via its Cash App mobile payment service, according to the company’s shareholder letter.