Ark Invest Scoops Up More Coinbase Stocks Amid Downturn
- Ark Invest purchased $9.2 million worth of Coinbase (COIN) shares on Friday, as per reports from several media outlets.
- ARK Innovation ETF and the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF who got 139,105 and 23,220 shares respectively
- This is the third purchase of the company in 2023, the first two being on January 5 and January 11.
- Ark purchased a total of $10.47 million worth of COIN shares between January 5 and January 11.
Ark Investment Management, an American investment management firm, has once again purchased the stocks of Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the United States. It is crucial to note that the crypto market downturn has also affected the stocks of crypto-focused companies, which has led to huge reductions in the price of these stocks. Taking advantage of these lower prices, Cathie Wood’s company has continued to add more COIN stocks to its portfolio.
It is crucial to note that the price of Coinbase stocks has plummeted significantly in the past 12 months. Interestingly, at the time of writing, the stocks are down approximately 85% from their all-time high of $348.98 on November 12, 2021. Moreover, Ark Invest purchased $9.2 million worth of COIN shares on Friday, as per reports from several media outlets, and this marks its third purchase of COIN stocks.
According to a Bloomberg report over three months ago, Ark Invest has also purchased close to $56 million worth of Coinbase shares in November 2022 alone, and it seems that the general interest for the company has risen among institutional investors. At that time, Bloomberg confirmed that the investment management company had purchased more than 1.3 million shares of Coinbase since the start of November.
Furthermore, the $9.2 million worth of COIN shares was split between the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) and the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), which got 139,105 and 23,220 shares, respectively. This brings the company’s total investment in the crypto exchange to $19.73 million since the start of the year.
Wood’s firm invested a total of $10.47 million between January 5 and January 11 via a series of purchases of the COIN stock. One of the most notable purchases include the 172,276 shares of Coinbase, worth $5.77 million on January 5 followed by 74,792 COIN worth $3.275 million on January 11.
Interestingly, the downtrend in the price of COIN stocks has been accelerated by the fears of a US regulatory crackdown after crypto exchange Kraken was forced by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to shut down its staking services in the region.
The SEC stated that Kraken failed “to register the offer and sale of their crypto asset staking-as-a-service program” and therefore, was sentenced to pay $30 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties.
As reported earlier by Bitnation, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that staking is “a really important innovation. It allows users to participate directly in running open crypto networks. Staking brings many positive improvements to the space, including scalability, increased security, and reduced carbon footprints.” A ban on crypto staking would be a “terrible path for the US” said the executive.
Interestingly, in a blog post, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, pointed out that staking is neither a security under the US Securities Act nor under the Howey test.
As a result, the offering cannot be called a security. Grewal added that staking services do not come under the “reasonable expectation of profits” element of the Howey test because “staking rewards are simply payments for validation services provided to the blockchain, not a return on investment.”
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
