ARK Buys $15.9M Worth of Its Own Bitcoin ETF

ARK Invest bought $15.9 million worth of shares in its own recently-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Tuesday.

Cathie Wood’s investment firm added 365,427 shares of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) to its Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW). ARKB shares closed on Tuesday at $43.51, down around 11% from its price on listing of $49 on Jan. 11.

ARK sold a similar amount – $15.8 million – worth of shares in the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), the first ETF linked to the bitcoin futures market to list in the U.S.

The firm sold off its holdings in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) in December, prior to GBTC’s conversion into a bitcoin ETF. ARK swapped its GBTC shares for BITO in anticipation of the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., with Cathie Wood saying an already approved fund was more secure than an approval waiting to happen.

It was expected that ARK would swap some of its BITO shares for a spot bitcoin ETF shortly after the approval happened.