ARK Sells $28M Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Shares as Bitcoin Nears $43K

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest continued to trim its holdings of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) as the discount to net asset value narrowed and bitcoin (BTC) neared $43,000.

A disclosure from ARK shows that ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) sold 809,441 shares of GBTC for approximately $28 million.

The sale leaves the investment firm with 3.4 million GBTC shares ($117.4 million), down from a high of around 9 million shares in July 2021.

ARKW bought the GBTC shares at an average cost of $24.08, putting this sale in the black as GBTC is currently trading for $34.54.

Bitcoin is currently trading above $42,900, according to CoinDesk Indicies data, and is up 17% over the last 30 days.

ARK also bought $26 million worth of shares in Block (SQ), Jack Dorsey's fintech company formerly named Square. Block offers payments in crypto through its Cash App and earlier this month unveiled a new self-custody bitcoin wallet. SQ shares closed on Monday at $73.88, down 0.44% on the day.

UPDATE (Dec. 19, 10:17 UTC): Adds purchase of Block share in last paragraph.

Edited by Parikshit Mishra.