Ark Invest buys $2.2 million of Coinbase shares as it offloads $36 million in Robinhood stock

Ark Invest bought 12,994 Coinbase shares, worth $2.2 million, for its Fintech Innovation ETF (ticker ARKF) on Tuesday and offloaded $36.4 million in Robinhood stock amid contrasting market performance for the trading apps.

It’s the first time Ark has bought Coinbase shares for its funds since acquiring $8.4 million worth of COIN on Sept. 11, amid a post-U.S. presidential debate price drop across the crypto market that saw bitcoin briefly fall below the $55,000 level.

Ark’s investment strategy involves letting no individual holding take up more than 10% of an ETF’s portfolio. This is to maintain diversification within its funds — meaning Ark is likely to continue rebalancing its weightings if the value of Coinbase stock rises or falls significantly relative to Ark's other holdings in its funds.

According to the firm’s disclosures, COIN is now the second-largest holding within its ARKF ETF behind Shopify stock, with a weighting of 7.4%, worth around $64 million, as of Oct. 9. Coinbase is currently valued at $31.2 billion, according to The Block’s data dashboard.

Coinbase’s contrasting stock performance against Robinhood in 2024

The Cathie Wood-led investment firm also sold more than 1.4 million Robinhood shares on Tuesday from three of its exchange-traded funds, worth $36.4 million.

Specifically, Ark offloaded around 1.1 million Rohinhood shares ($28 million) from its Innovation ETF (ARKK), 191,445 shares ($4.9 million) from its Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) and 135,665 shares ($3.5 million) from its Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF).

HOOD is now Ark’s fifth-largest holding in its ARKF ETF and the seventh-largest in both its ARKW and ARKK funds, each with weightings of just under 5%, with valuations of $42.5 million, $68.2 million and $273.8 million, respectively.

This year has seen contrasting fortunes for the two stocks. Coinbase shares have fallen by more than 33% over the past six months to generate a negative return of 3% for 2024, despite a promising start to the year. COIN closed down 0.7% on Tuesday at $167.68, according to TradingView.

COIN/USD price chart. Image: TradingView .

Meanwhile, Robinhood shares are up nearly 45% during the past six months, with a 101% return year-to-date. HOOD closed up almost 10% on Tuesday at $25.62, per TradingView.

HOOD/USD price chart. Image: TradingView.

Robinhood has expanded its interest in the industry recently, with its crypto arm launching crypto transfers in Europe earlier this month and reportedly planning a potential stablecoin .

In June, Robinhood also announced plans to acquire the crypto exchange Bitstamp in a potential $200 million deal. Meanwhile, Politico reported on Monday that Robinhood Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher could be tapped as the next Securities and Exchange Commission chair if Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election.