ARK buys its biggest batch of COIN in 2023

Amid Coinbase (COIN) stock tumbling about 8% on Thursday, Cathie Wood’s investment manager ARK Invest has bought the biggest amount of the stock since the start of 2023.

On March 9, ARK purchased 301,437 Coinbase shares ($17.5 million) for its ARK Innovation exchange-traded fund, known as ARKK, according to an investor notification seen by Cointelegraph. The company has also bought 52,525 COIN shares ($3 million) for its ARK Next Generation Internet ETF, referred to as ARKW.

ARK’s latest investments in Coinbase make up the largest single COIN stock acquisition in 2023 so far, accounting for roughly 30% of all COIN purchases in 2023. The amount significantly exceeds ARK’s total COIN buys in January, or just about $13 million. In February, Wood’s investment firm bagged a total $42 million worth of COIN stock.

In addition to Coinbase, ARK has also been actively buying the Robinhood (HOOD) stock. On March 9, the company bought another 265,566 HOOD shares ($2.5 million) for its ARKK fund. The purchase came shortly after ARK packed similar amounts of Robinhood shares, buying 268,086 HOOD ($2.5 million) and 219,883 HOOD ($2.1 million) on March 8 and March 6, respectively.

Related: Silvergate reportedly talks with FDIC on ways to avoid shutdown

The news comes amid reports suggesting that ARK has earned more than 70% of its $310 million fees since the ARKK’s price plummeted by 76% since its all-time high in February 2021. In 2023, ARK was earning an average of roughly $230,000 in fees a day as the fund’s value has slightly recovered, surging from around $30 in early January to $37.3 in mid-March.

The new ARK’s COIN buys further reaffirm the company’s bullish sentiment towards the cryptocurrency industry and Bitcoin (BTC). Focused on technology innovations like self-driving cars and genomics, ARK Invest founder Wood is one of the biggest crypto bulls in the world, believing that Bitcoin will hit $1 million in the not-so-distant future due its promising potential as a risk-on asset.

The latest bullish investments came despite the crypto market facing another wave of panic due to Silvergate crypto bank announcing plans to wind down operations and liquidate the bank. On March 10, Bitcoin dropped below $20,000 for the first time since early January.