ARK Snaps Up $9.5M HOOD Shares Day After Robinhood Announces European Expansion

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest purchased a large chunk of shares in U.S.-based financial services company Robinhood (HOOD), a day after the popular trading platform laid out plans to expand in Europe.

ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) bought a combined 1,141,046 shares of Robinhood. The total purchase had a value of $9.54 million based on Wednesday’s close of $8.36.

“With an experienced team in place, we will soon launch brokerage operations in the U.K.,” Robinhood said in its third-quarter earnings statement on Tuesday. “As another step in global expansion, we are also planning to launch crypto trading in the EU following our U.K. launch,” the firm added.

Bitcoin’s 110% year-to-date gain has failed to boost demand for shares in Robinhood, which, as of Wednesday, traded just 2.7% higher on a year-to-date basis.

Also, the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) sold 48,477 units of GBTC worth $1.34 million. Late last month, the fund sold 72,509 units of GBTC. Still, GBTC has the highest weight of 9.88% in the ETF.

Shares in GBTC have rallied 235% this year, outperforming bitcoin (BTC) and major U.S. stock market indices by a big margin, data from charting platform TradingView shows.

GBTC’s discount relative to the trust’s net asset value has narrowed to 12.26% from the record 48% in December last year in hopes the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would greenlight the conversion of the trust into a spot-based ETF.