Looking to make a profit from its Coinbase stock, ARK Invest, Cathie Wood’s investment management company, is selling its first batch of Coinbase shares this year.
ARK Invest Sells $13.5 Million in Coinbase Shares
On March 21, ARK sold 160,887 Coinbase shares of its ARK Fintech Innovation exchange-traded fund (ARKF) for $13.5 million.
The transaction became ARK’s first sale of Coinbase stock in 2023, following three months of active buying in 2023. The amount sold represents 23% of all Coinbase stock acquired by ARK so far in March. Furthermore, it amounts to about 9% of all Coinbase shares bought by the company this year.
Following the sale, ARK owns nearly 1.6 million Coinbase shares purchased in 2023. These shares are worth more than $132 million at the time of writing.
The latest sale comes amid a significant price hike for Coinbase shares, which trade as COIN. Shares even reached their highest levels in months this week.
On March 21, COIN stock reached a price level of $83.99. This was a level not reached since September 2022, according to data from TradingView. As a result, shares have recovered more than 130% year-to-date. Nevertheless, they are still 54% lower than the last 12 months.
Crypto market seems to be picking up again
The upward movement of the Coinbase share price corresponds to a more positive trend in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin, for example, hit multi-month highs amid the global banking crisis. On March 22, Bitcoin hit a 9-month high above $28,000. With this, the price level recovered significantly after the sector crisis caused by bankruptcies such as FTX.
The news comes shortly after ARK will be in 2023 largest purchase of Coinbase stock has done so far. On March 9, Wood’s investment manager raised 301,437 shares of Coinbase for his ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) and 52,525 shares of COIN for the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW). At the time of the full purchase, the load of shares was worth approximately $20.5 million, while the current value is close to $30 million.