ARK Invest, one of the firms hoping to launch a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) next year, is continuing to rake in the profits made from its large stash of Coinbase (COIN) stock.
On Dec. 5, ARK dumped as many as 237,572 Coinbase shares from its three funds, according to a trade notification seen by Cointelegraph. The sale came on the day the Coinbase stock closed at $140 per share, netting at least $33 million.
The trading firm offloaded 201,711 Coinbase shares from the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) alone, with an additional 28,535 COIN and 7,326 COIN being sold by the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) and the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), respectively.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s stock is posting new yearly highs in line with the bullish crypto market, surging 280% year to date (YTD), according to data from TradingView. COIN shares have also been rallying after rival exchange Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering and sanctions violations in the United States in November.
On Dec. 5, the Coinbase stock reached a new record high above $147.4, a level not seen since April 2022. The stock is also up nearly 70% over the past 30 days, according to TradingView.
The latest Coinbase sale by ARK is one of its largest daily COIN sales in 2023, third only to the massive 478,356 COIN sale on July 14 and the 248,838 COIN sale on July 17. At the time, Coinbase stock traded around $105.
In addition to aggressive Coinbase selling, ARK has also sold 168,127 Grayscale’s Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) shares. At the closing price of $35, the sale netted $5.9 million, according to TradingView. The firm started selling Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares on Oct. 23, 2023, as Bitcoin was heading toward $34,000.
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Despite continuing to actively sell Coinbase stock recently, ARK still holds a significant amount of COIN shares as one of its top assets. Coinbase remains the biggest asset in the portfolio of the ARKF ETF, accounting for more than 13% of its net assets with a value of nearly $135 million as of Dec. 5.
COIN also makes up 11.72% and 11.64% of the ARKW ETF and the ARKK ETF, respectively, being the biggest asset for both.
Despite selling COIN, ARK has been actively buying other crypto-related stocks, including Robinhood (HOOD). The firm has also continued buying shares of SoFi technologies even after it announced the upcoming termination of crypto trading services.