Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management seized the opportunity provided by Wednesday’s market downturn to snatch a chunk of Coinbase stock.

See related article: Bitcoin hits lowest price in two years as Binance cancels FTX acquisition

Fast facts

  • Ark Invest purchased 420,949 shares of Coinbase (COIN), among the largest U.S.-based crypto exchanges, worth just under US$21.4 million, according to the firm’s daily trade brief.  
  • The majority of shares purchased — about 330,000 — went to ARKK, the firm’s flagship exchange-traded fund (ETF), which targets innovative and disruptive projects.
  • 54,466 shares went towards Ark Next Generation ETF (ARKW) and 36,022 to ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), having purchased 10,880 of COIN for the ETF in October, according to publicly available data. 
  • COIN slumped 10.78% on Tuesday to US$50.83, and is down 80% for the year amid similarly dire performances in the crypto space, with Bitcoin down 74% for the same period.  
  • COIN’s losses and the share purchase come amid market turmoil following Binance’s since-reversed announcement that it would be purchasing FTX.com. Coinbase told its investors that it had no exposure to FTX’s native token FTT, no loans to FTX, and no exposure to FTX’s sister company Alameda Research, with its only link to FTX being a US$15 million deposit on the crypto exchange. 
  • Coinbase’s third quarter net revenue fell 28% from US$803 million in Q2 2022 to US$576 million as trading volumes dropped. However, its subscription and service did grow from US$147 million to US$211 million during Q3, according to a shareholder letter.

See related article: Binance officially backs out of FTX acquisition; latest updates and commentary