ARK Invest Acquires $9.5M Worth of Robinhood Shares After European Expansion Announcement

ARK Invest, the investment firm headed by Bitcoin advocate Cathie Wood, has been steadily acquiring shares of Robinhood, a crypto-friendly trading platform. The firm intensified its accumulation following Robinhood’s recent announcement of plans to branch out into Europe, particularly the United Kingdom.

On November 8, ARK Invest made a substantial purchase of Robinhood shares, bagging a total of 1.1 million shares valued at $9.5 million in a single day.

This significant investment was divided among three of ARK’s innovative exchange-traded funds (ETFs): ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF). ARKK allocated the largest portion of shares, buying 888,500 Robinhood shares, accounting for 78% of the day’s total purchase. ARKW and ARKF allocated 152,849 shares and 99,697 shares, respectively.

This investment came at a time when Robinhood’s stock value dipped by over 14% following the release of worse-than-expected results and a decline in trading activity and users. Despite this, ARK Invest showed confidence in Robinhood by increasing their shareholding. Robinhood’s decision to expand its brokerage operations in Europe, including the U.K, and later introduce crypto trading in the EU, may have influenced ARK’s investment decision.

While ARK has been actively buying Robinhood shares, it has also been steadily selling its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares. ARKW sold another 48,477 GBTC shares for $1.4 million on November 8. This followed a sell-off of 139,506 GBTC shares worth nearly $4 million just two days prior. Since late October 2022, ARK has sold a total of 427,573 GBTC shares, approximately $11.9 million in value.

In the meantime, ARK has also announced plans to launch new ETFs focusing on Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts. These new offerings are in collaboration with its primary crypto ETF partner, 21Shares, and are expected to begin trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange by November 16.