Cathie Wood Takes Profits from ARK Invest’s Coinbase Holdings Amidst Surge in Stock Price

Cathie Wood Takes Profits from ARK Invest’s Coinbase Holdings Amidst Surge in Stock Price

Cathie Wood, a seasoned pro-Bitcoin investor, is capitalizing on the surge in Coinbase’s stock price by selling a small portion of ARK Invest’s holdings in the company.

On July 11, Wood’s investment firm, ARK Invest, divested 135,152 shares of Coinbase, amounting to $12 million, from its prominent exchange-traded fund (ETF) called the ARK Innovation ETF. This sale constituted 0.14% of the fund’s total holdings, as indicated by the trade notification obtained by Cointelegraph.

The decision to sell comes as Coinbase’s stock price experienced a significant increase. On July 11, the price briefly exceeded $90, rising from approximately $82 to a high of $90.9, according to TradingView data. Following Wood’s sale, the stock closed at $89 on Tuesday.

According to TradingView, Coinbase’s stock has risen by over 60% in the past month and more than 140% year-to-date.

This recent sale marks the second time this year that Wood has chosen to capitalize on Coinbase shares. On March 21, ARK Invest sold 160,887 Coinbase shares from the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF for $13.5 million, at an average price of around $84 per share.

Prior to taking profits from ARK’s Coinbase holdings, Wood had been actively accumulating the stock across various ARK funds. In June alone, ARK purchased approximately $40 million worth of Coinbase shares. Previously, the investment firm acquired around $33 million worth of shares in both April and May, and $117 million worth in March.

Coinbase executives, including CEO Brian Armstrong, have also been selling their shares amidst the recent surge in price. On July 6, Armstrong and several other senior executives sold a combined total of 88,058 shares, worth roughly $6.9 million at the time. Additionally, Coinbase’s chief accounting officer, Jennifer Jones, sold 74,375 shares on June 29, resulting in a net gain of $5.2 million.

Coinbase’s stock has seen substantial growth despite facing a securities violation lawsuit from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This growth may be primarily attributed to the market’s anticipation of the BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF filing, which identified Coinbase as a “surveillance-sharing” partner.