ARK Invest, the investment management firm founded by the experienced investor Cathie Wood, has started selling off a large number of shares in Robinhood, the cryptocurrency-friendly broker-dealer. According to a trade notification seen by Cointelegraph, on March 25, ARK sold 1.6 million Robinhood shares from its three funds. Based on Robinhood’s closing price of $19.08 on Monday, this amount is worth $31.5 million. The largest portion of shares, totaling 1,247,181, was sold from the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), valued at around $24 million. Additionally, ARK sold 275,933 shares from the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) and 128,137 shares from the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF).
This recent sale by ARK is the largest one since the firm began actively acquiring Robinhood stock last year. The decision to sell comes at a time when Robinhood has experienced significant success, with its price surging by 36% over the past 30 days. Previously, ARK had been selling smaller portions of Robinhood shares, primarily due to compliance with Rule 12d3-1, which prohibits funds from acquiring more than 5% of the value of their total assets in securities.
Despite selling off Robinhood shares, ARK has continued to purchase more shares of the online game platform Roblox. On March 25, ARK acquired 740,115 Roblox shares for its three funds, a total worth of $27 million at the closing price on Monday. Additionally, ARK has also been selling off Coinbase shares, with a recent sale of 4,291 COIN worth approximately $21 million.
Robinhood, founded in 2013, is a stock trading application that is friendly towards cryptocurrencies. It allows users to trade Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), as well as stocks, ETFs, options, and other assets. Recently, Robinhood launched the Android version of its self-custodial wallet, the Robinhood Wallet app.