Crypto shocker: ARK Invest liquidates entire GBTC holdings, invests $100m in Bitcoin futures ETF

ARK Invest started laying off its GBTC shares when Bitcoin first hit the $34,000 price mark in October

ARK Invest has recently made a bold move by liquidating its entire Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) holdings. On December 28, Cathie Wood's investment management firm sold off the remaining of its GBTC holdings worth $200 million. ARK used half of the proceeds from the sales to invest in Bitcoin Futures ETF. By investing a whopping $100 million in ETF issuer ProShares’ Bitcoin futures ETF, ARK Invest has made a major shift in its investment portfolio.

ARK Invest sells its entire GBTC holdings

ARK Invest dumps its entire GBTC holdings

This final layoff of ARK Invest's GTBC shares comes after its first two sales in October and early December. According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, this investment shift has made it the second-largest BITO holder. According to Reuters, ARK's stake is worth roughly $92 million based on the fund's closing price on Wednesday.

“Today ARK sold its entire remaining $GBTC position (it was ARKW's biggest holding only a month ago) and used half the money $100m-ish to buy $BITO, likely as liq transition tool to keep beta to btc while it legs into $ARKW or $ARKB. End of an era,” Eric shared on X, formerly Twitter.

ARK Invest started laying off its GBTC shares when Bitcoin first hit the $34,000 price mark in October. At the time, it sold about 100,739 GBTC shares worth $2.5 million from its ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW). It sold another 809,441 GBTC shares on December 19 worth $27.9 million.

ARK Invest drops Coinbase

Apart from liquidating its GBTC holdings, ARK Invest also sold off 148,885 Coinbase shares worth $27.6 million, based on the crypto exchange's last closing price. As per Reuters, “Shares in Coinbase have rallied more than 400% so far this year.”

Ark is likely using the Bitcoin futures ETF as a “temporary parking spot,” ahead of launching its own spot Bitcoin ETF next year, Eric added.