ARK Makes Contrasting Crypto Moves: $26M Coinbase Purchase and $12M Bitcoin ETF Sale

ARK Invest has purchased $26.6 million worth of Coinbase stock while selling $12 million in Bitcoin ETF shares during April, following President Donald Trump's trade tariffs announcement. The investment firm made two major Coinbase purchases: $13.3 million on April 4 and $13.2 million on April 7.

At the same time, ARK sold $12 million of its ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) on April 7 from its Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) fund. This sale represents one of the largest daily ARKB sales by the firm, coming after several earlier sales in 2024 totaling about $20.1 million.

Despite these sales, ARK's ARKW fund maintains substantial crypto exposure. The fund continues to hold $142 million in ARKB through its ARK Bitcoin ETF Holdco as of April 8, which accounts for 11% of the fund's total weight according to ARK's website.

These trading decisions occurred during a major market sell-off when Bitcoin briefly dropped 11% to around $74,700 following Trump's tariffs announcement. The cryptocurrency market has shown volatility in response to the news.

Bitcoin exchange-traded products have seen significant outflows recently:

• $207 million in outflows from global Bitcoin ETPs last week
• $109 million in outflows on April 7
• $273 million in combined outflows over the past three trading days

ARK remains among the few spot Bitcoin ETF issuers with positive net flows for the year. As of April 4, the firm had recorded $146 million in inflows for 2025. Other issuers with positive year-to-date inflows include BlackRock's iShares with $3.2 billion and ProShares with $398 million.

ARK's recent trading activity follows a similar pattern from early March when the firm purchased 38,865 Coinbase shares worth $8 million while selling $8.2 million of ARKB holdings. This consistent approach aligns with ARK's portfolio management policy, which prevents any single holding from exceeding 10% of a fund's assets to maintain diversification, particularly important when asset values fluctuate significantly.