Bearish On COIN? Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Sells $16M In Coinbase Stock

Over the past week, Ark Invest sold 93,435 shares of Coinbase (COIN). The shares were worth around $16 million and were sold across three exchange-traded funds (ETFs). 

Ark sold 54,307 shares worth $9 million from the Innovation ETF (ARKK), 28,222 worth $4.7 million from the Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) and 13,906 shares worth $2.3 million from the Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF). 

The sale comes after a surprising earnings beat from Coinbase in its fourth-quarter earnings release. The company reported revenue of $953.79 million, beating the consensus estimate of $822.36 million for the quarter. 

COIN is up more than 200% over the past year and was up 12% on the day of earnings, making it one of the best-performing companies Ark has in its portfolios. 

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The stock is still around 40% below previous all-time highs of around $340, set in the last crypto bull market in 2021. 

Additionally, Ark sold $8.2 million of Robinhood Markets Inc. HOOD shares last week. Robinhood has also performed well over the past several months, up nearly 50% in the last month. 

Another interesting piece to add is that Coinbase is serving as the custodian for the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), which launched in early 2024. This means that Coinbase is responsible for holding and executing Bitcoin transactions for Ark as it relates to ARKB. 

Additionally, Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood said in an interview with Yahoo Finance that Coinbase is "the most compliant exchange out there" and that it is "losing all its competition." Wood also said that she thinks that "they're also in the right place at the right time. And they're executing brilliantly."

You can interpret this information in a few ways. First, it could simply be Ark taking profits on a successful investment. It could also be looking to remove some risk, as it is now more heavily associated with Coinbase through the Bitcoin ETF. Another possibility is that Ark is becoming bearish on COIN and wants to get rid of its large position. 

Though it is impossible to determine exactly why Ark sold the shares, more information could come out, or Wood could provide more context on the sale. 

Ark is known to take profits on investments. In an interview with Bloomberg last summer, Wood discussed a sale of COIN for $26 million. "We're simply taking profits and reallocating the capital to some laggards," she said.

The most recent sale may have been made with the same reasoning as some of the past sales, and Ark was simply looking to realize the gains on its positions. 

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