Ark Invest Sells Coinbase Amid Bitcoin Slide, Buys Bullish & Brera

Ark Invest sold 119,236 shares of Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) across three of its actively managed ETFs on Thursday, a position valued at approximately $19 million following a Friday rebound. This sale is notable for its timing, coming just days after the firm had added to its Coinbase position, according to data from Cathie’s Ark. The transaction occurred as shares of the American crypto exchange fell to their lowest price since March 2024, part of a broader six-month decline of nearly 48% for COIN. Despite this tactical reduction, Coinbase remains Ark Invest’s seventh-largest investment, with holdings across its various ETFs still valued around $425 million.

The sale was executed against a backdrop of severe pressure in the crypto market. Bitcoin (BTC) fell rapidly to a bottom near $60,255, while Ethereum (ETH) dropped to $1,756. Even with a partial recovery on Friday, which saw COIN shares jump nearly 9% to around $159.13, Bitcoin remained down about 17% for the week near $69,000, and Ethereum showed a 27% dive over the previous seven days. Ark’s decision to trim its COIN holding, therefore, represents a responsive move to acute market volatility rather than a wholesale abandonment of the crypto exchange thesis.

Concurrent with the Coinbase sale, Ark Invest deployed capital into other crypto-related equities. The firm added more than 716,000 shares of crypto exchange Bullish (BLSH), a position now valued at over $19 million as BLSH trades around $27.00. This acquisition increased Ark’s total stake in Bullish to around $138 million. The buy is particularly striking given that Bullish reported substantial fourth-quarter losses of approximately $536 million on the same Thursday, indicating Ark’s focus may be on long-term exchange infrastructure potential rather than short-term profitability.

Further diversifying its crypto equity exposure, Ark added 150,000 shares of Brera Holdings (SLMT), also known as Solmate, a Solana treasury and infrastructure company. The shares are valued around $172,500. This investment comes despite a brutal downturn for Solana (SOL) and related firms. SOL has dropped 39% in the last month and is now 71% off its January 2025 all-time high, recently changing hands at $84.01. The purchase suggests Ark is seeking to build positions in Solana ecosystem companies during a period of significant price weakness, adhering to a potential ‘buy-the-dip’ strategy within its innovation theme.

Ark’s Thursday trading activity was not confined to the crypto sector. The firm also acquired shares in Google parent company Alphabet (GOOG), maintaining its exposure to the artificial intelligence (AI) theme. This move comes amid broader macroeconomic uncertainty surrounding AI’s valuation and impact. However, Cathie Wood has remained adamant that AI is not the market bubble to fear. Instead, she has pointed to the rapid rise in precious metals like gold as representing the real bubble risk in markets.

The series of transactions—selling COIN, buying BLSH and SLMT, and adding GOOG—paints a picture of a fund manager actively rebalancing a thematic portfolio in response to market tremors. While reducing a top holding in a flagship crypto company like Coinbase, Ark demonstrated continued conviction in the digital asset ecosystem by increasing stakes in other exchanges and infrastructure providers. This activity underscores the firm’s philosophy of high-conviction, actively managed investing, where portfolio weights are dynamically adjusted based on price movements and evolving assessments of risk and opportunity, even within a long-term innovative disruption thesis.