Ark Invest, the asset management firm led by Cathie Wood, shortened its bets with Coinbase Global Inc. and Robinhood Markets Inc. on Thursday. This move is seen as the firm trying to profit off a cryptocurrency price boom and skyrocketing valuations in crypto-related stocks.
As per the recent announcement, Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) sold 16,627 shares of Coinbase worth around $6.3 million as per the closing price of Thursday, that is $388.96 per share. It also sold 58,504 Robinhood stocks, amounting to about $5.6 million.
Additionally, Ark also sold 24,780 shares of Block Inc., previously known as Square, valued at about $1.7 million. Block’s stock showed little movement, slipping 0.36% to close at $68.76.
The sales were executed when the Bitcoin price touched another all time high of $118,080 early Friday, rising 6.4% within 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH) increased by 8.5% to $3,011.
Meanwhile, Coinbase recently entered a strategic alliance with an AI-based search engine startup firm, Perplexity AI.The partnership focuses on offering a real-time crypto data service, which can be seen as one of the milestones of blockchain technology converging with the technology of artificial intelligence.
As for Robinhood, it allegedly negotiated with European regulators about its future tokenization platform. Its initiative, which will use tokens as blockchain-said stock, will allow trading equities in fractional form.
Nonetheless, regulatory issues are yet to be overcome. The Florida Attorney General launched an investigation into Robinhood Crypto on Thursday, accusing the trading platform of making mendacious claims about being the cheapest way to buy crypto.
All these events have been followed by changes on the part of Ark Invest in terms of tactical rebalancing under conditions of high valuations and momentum in the crypto market.
