(Reuters) – Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest bought 4.3 million shares of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which is popularly known as ‘BITO’ and tracks the price of futures tied to the world’s largest cryptocurrency, a trading note showed on Thursday.
Based on the fund’s closing price on Wednesday, ARK’s stake is worth roughly $92 million, according to Reuters’ calculations.
After a brutal 2022, the crypto market is on a rebound, with Bitcoin climbing more than 150% so far this year.
Big asset managers, including BlackRock, are waiting for regulatory approvals from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a string of derivative-based products such as ETFs tracking the spot price of Bitcoin.
ARK, in partnership with 21Shares, has also refiled paperwork with the SEC seeking approval for a spot bitcoin ETF ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF after the regulator said its initial prospectus did not meet the requirements to prevent fraud and market manipulation.
Separately, ARK Invest sold shares of Coinbase Global worth roughly $27.6 million, based on the crypto exchange’s last closing price. Shares in Coinbase have rallied more than 400% so far this year.
Earlier this week, software firm MicroStrategy also disclosed it had bought bitcoin worth about $615.7 million in cash.
(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
