Cathie Wood’s ARK Sells Remaining GBTC Shares, Buys $100M in Bitcoin Futures ETF

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has sold off its remaining Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares, around $200 million and used $100 million of the proceeds to buy shares in the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

With its $100 million BITO purchase, ARK Invest has become the second-largest holder of the Bitcoin futures ETF, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas tweeted. The asset manager offloaded 2.25 million GBTC shares and purchased 4.32 million shares of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF.

Balchunas suggested that ARK Invest’s move into BITO was “likely as liq transition tool to keep beta to btc while it legs into $ARKW or $ARKB.” ARKW is the ticker for ARK’s Next Generation Internet ETF, while ARKB is the proposed ticker for its spot Bitcoin ETF, the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF.

Just a month ago, ARKW’s GBTC position was its largest holding. But the asset manager has been on a selling spree, offloading its GBTC position as Bitcoin climbed to a yearly high.

ARK Invest’s reshuffling of its portfolio comes amid fevered speculation around the possible approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); the firm is one of many hopefuls jockeying to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF.

To date, the SEC has rejected every spot Bitcoin ETF application that’s crossed its desk, but the last few months have seen a flurry of meetings between the regulator and applicants, following the entry of the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, into the race in June 2023.

A subsequent court ruling that ordered the SEC to review Grayscale’s application to convert GBTC into a spot Bitcoin ETF added fuel to the fire. With a window looming in January where the SEC could approve multiple applications at once, hopefuls are rushing to dot the i’s and cross the t’s on their applications.

Last week, Barry Silbert stepped down as chairman of Grayscale Investments, sparking speculation that the move could have been instigated to clear the way for the firm’s ETF hopes.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.