Cathie Wood

Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam sells $13M in COIN shares as ARK continues to divest

Major Coinbase shareholders have sold over $14 million of stocks over the past 48 hours.

According to public trading data, Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and ARK Invest have sold more than $14 million of Coinbase shares over the past 48 hours.

Information shared by Insider Tracker, a service that shares trading information of high-profile company executives and politicians, shows that Ehrsam sold 97.836 COIN shares for $13.2 million on Dec. 11.

Meanwhile, ARK Invest’s daily trade information newsletter, which provides updates on its actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), showed that its ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) had offloaded some 10,933 COIN shares valued at around $1.5 million.

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Bitcoin, Ether are ‘like gold’ says Cathie Wood, but Ray Dalio is skeptical

Cathie Wood thinks Bitcoin and Ether are acting as “risk-off” assets and as a “flight to safety” for investors amid macroeconomic uncertainty.

Recent turmoil in the banking sector has shown that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) can withstand a shaky economy, outperform other asset classes and function like gold, says ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood — butone long-time investor still isn’t sold.

Wood said in an April 15 interview that Bitcoin’s resilience throughout the most recent banking crisis has been “the most remarkable” of all indicators her tech-focused investment management firm is monitoring.

Bitcoin and Ether are now acting as “risk-off” assets and as a “flight to safety” for investors amid macroeconomic uncertainty, she claimed:

“They’re going to disrupt the traditional world order. What are Bitcoin and Ether doing? I mean by the very fact that they’re being considered flight to safety like gold, that’s really interesting and suggests much broader-based adoption and acceptance than I think most people understand.”

“We would say that there is a flight to safety, certainly led by crypto assets, and it is telling us that the world is transforming and will continue to transform. You cannot stop innovation,” she added.

Wood thinks cryptocurrency will eventually become an “election issue” when the sector becomes more broadly accepted, and the public can more clearly see the kinds of regulatory pressure that the United States government is applying on the industry to maintain centralized control of money and monetary policy.

Not all share Wood’s sentiment.

Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates — the world’s largest hedge fund by assets under management — said in an April 12 interview that Bitcoin could not serve as an “effective currency” because it is too volatile and central banks won’t adopt it:

“Bitcoin is neither an effective store hold of wealth or a medium of exchange so it is not an effective currency. It has a volatility to it that has no relation to practically anything […] it’s a very, very poor alternative to gold.”

“They can outlaw [Bitcoin]. They can regulate it. Central banks and countries pretty much don’t want it anyway,” he said, adding that it gets attention “way out of proportion” to its size.

Related: Bitcoin likely to outperform all crypto assets following banking crisis, analyst explains

Dalio strengthened his case by pointing out that gold is the third largest reserve held by central banks, trailing only the U.S. dollar and euros.

Despite previously describing Bitcoin as “one hell of an invention,” Dalio recently said that he instead wants to see an “inflation-linked” coin be built that would serve to ensure consumers secure their buying power.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

Cathie Wood’s ARK loading up on Coinbase shares again, buying $18M

ARK Invest purchased 269,928 shares in Coinbase on March 23, only two days after it sold $13.5 million, its first sale of Coinbase shares this year.

Cathie Wood’s investment management firm has gone back to buying Coinbase shares again, just a day after COIN’s stock price dipped amid news of its Wells notice. 

On March 23, ARK Invest purchased 268,928 Coinbase shares via its ARKK Innovation and ARKW Next Generation Internet exchange-traded funds. The shares wereworth $17.88 million at the time of writing.

Only two days prior, and before the news of the Wells notice broke, ARK Invest sold 160,887 Coinbase shares from its ARK Fintech Innovation ETF. The sale was the first time any of ARK Invest’s ETFs shed Coinbase shares in 2023.

Coinbase’s share price has failed to recover since it shared news it had received a Wells notice warning of possible enforcement action from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which led to COIN shares dropping around 21%.

Shares in Coinbase dipped to a low of $64.27 after trading began on March 23, and at time of writing were trading at $66.87 in after-hours trading, according to Barron’s.

Coinbase’s share price from March 17 to March 23. Source: Barron’s

Related: Coinbase CEO on its Wells notice: SEC is like soccer referees in a game of pickleball

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong had also sold shares in his firm between March 17 to March 20 — just days prior to the Wells notice and share price dip.

SEC filings indicate, however, that Coinbase executives and insiders all enter into 10B5-1 selling plans months in advance and that this tranche of sales was pursuant to a trading plan adopted on Aug. 16.

SEC filing showing the latest shares sold by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Source: SEC Archives

While the SEC reached a settlement with crypto exchange Kraken on Feb. 9 after alleging its staking services qualified as securities, Coinbase has repeatedly asserted that its staking products are fundamentally different from Kraken’s and they cannot be universally labeled as securities.

Magazine: Best and worst countries for crypto taxes — Plus crypto tax tips

Ethereum faces 6-month lows versus Bitcoin — Will ETH price rebound?

Ethereum price has turned oversold against Bitcoin, raising the possibility of a rebound in the coming weeks.

Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), continues its multimonth downtrend against Bitcoin (BTC) in March, rising 5.5% versus the latter’s 19.5% gains on a month-to-date timeframe.

Bitcoin overshadows Ethereum amid banking crisis

As of March 23, the ETH/BTC pair was down about 9% month-to-date to 0.0633 while staying on course to record its worst month since September 2022, when it fell 11.75%.

ETH/BTC monthly price chart. Source: TradingView

From a fundamental perspective, traders preferred Bitcoin over Ether, hoping it would protect them from the ongoing banking turmoil in the U.S. and other parts of the world. The narrative gained momentum in recent weeks as Wall Street investors like Cathie Wood see Bitcoin as a potential “flight to safety” asset.

As a result of the growing speculation, Bitcoin outperformed traditional assets after March 8, when signs of trouble appeared at Silicon Valley Bank. In doing so, BTC also fared better than the altcoin market combined, including Ethereum.

Bitcoin, S&P 500, gold and altcoin market performances in March. Source: TradingView 

ETH paints bullish fractal vs. BTC

However, from a technical perspective, Ethereum is positioned for a comeback versus Bitcoin.

At least two technical indicators pose the possibility that ETH/BTC will rebound sharply in the coming weeks.

Related: Ethereum price at $1.4K was a bargain, and a rally toward $2K looks like the next step

First, the pair’s three-day relative strength index has dropped below 30, which technical analysts consider an “oversold” area.

Second, Ether’s drop versus Bitcoin has landed its price near its ascending support level (buy zone in the chart below).

ETH/BTC three-day price chart. Source: TradingView

A similar scenario in the June–July 2022 session preceded an approximately 60% rally toward ETH/BTC’s descending trendline resistance (sell zone in the chart above). If the fractal plays out, the pair could rally toward the same resistance level by June 2023.

In other words, Ether has a decent chance of rebounding by more than 15% to around 0.075 BTC. Conversely, a break below the ascending trendline support will invalidate the bullish fractal.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin’s banking crisis surge will ‘attract more institutions’: ARK’s Cathie Wood

Cathie Wood was impressed that Bitcoin “moved in a very different way” compared to the equity market in response to the recent banking crisis.

The value proposition of Bitcoin (BTC) is on full display amid the current banking crisis, which will only “attract more institutions” to the BTC market over time, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood believes.

Wood shared her thoughts on BTC’s recent price surge in a March 21 Bloomberg interview, stating its price behavior through the crisis “is going to attract more institutions.”

“The fact that Bitcoin moved in a very different way from the equity markets, in particular, was quite instructive,” she added.

Institutional interest in Bitcoin may have already arrived according to Oliver Linch, the CEO of Seattle-based crypto exchange Bittrex.

Linch noted in a March 21 interview on The Wolf Of All Streets Podcast that many big banks bought into crypto as an investment product well before the recent banking crisis:

“The big talking point of this bear market is institutional interest in crypto. Every big bank now has a substantive crypto desk, not just for trading, but for partnerships as well.”

However, he noted there’s still a divide between traditional financial institutions and crypto firms which has caused headwinds in institutional adoption over the last few months.

“Historically, those big players have been the biggest drivers of innovation,” he said, before claiming the two sides are currently “stuck in a bit of a rut” and the “big change” won’t happen until they stop fighting for superiority.

“It’s not crypto versus Goldman Sachs or crypto versus institutions. It’s a race to who can do crypto better.”

As for the impact on Bitcoin’s price from the institutional interest, Wood explained in the interview that ARK Invest’s $1-1.5 million BTC price prediction by 2030 was made on the back of an institutional investor BTC allocation analysis, which estimates most firms to allocate between 2.5% to 6.5% to BTC in their investment portfolios.

“These are the sorts of allocations that they would have made to emerging, new categories of assets like real estate in the 70s and small caps in the 80s and 90s,” Wood added.

Related: Bitcoin holds $28K due to spot buying, but institutional investors are still selling

ARK Invest estimates the BTC price towards $1.5 million will be pushed by institutional investors allocating between 2.5-6.5% of their portfolio into BTC. Source: ARK Invest

Linch, on the other hand, believes that “aggressive” institutional adoption will come when opportunities become more easily identifiable:

“Show them a way that it can be done and it can make them money and I guarantee you they won’t stand in the way of that. They’ll be pedal to the metal to exploit that opportunity.”

Positive sentiment has surrounded Bitcoin following the collapses of Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. The BTC price has surged 43.6% since its most recent low on March 11, compared to a 25.3% increase in the broader crypto market over that time, according to CoinGecko data.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

Bitcoin’s banking crisis surge will ‘attract more institutions’: ARK’s Cathie Wood

Cathie Wood was impressed that Bitcoin “moved in a very different way” compared to the equity market in response to the recent banking crisis.

The value proposition of Bitcoin (BTC) is on full display amid the current banking crisis, which will only “attract more institutions” to the BTC market over time, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood believes.

Wood shared her thoughts on BTC’s recent price surge in a March 21 Bloomberg interview, stating its price behavior through the crisis “is going to attract more institutions.”

“The fact that Bitcoin moved in a very different way from the equity markets, in particular, was quite instructive,” she added.

Institutional interest in Bitcoin may have already arrived, according to Oliver Linch, the CEO of Seattle-based crypto exchange Bittrex.

Linch noted in a March 21 interview on The Wolf Of All Streets podcast that many big banks bought into crypto as an investment product well before the recent banking crisis:

“The big talking point of this bear market is institutional interest in crypto. Every big bank now has a substantive crypto desk, not just for trading, but for partnerships as well.”

However, he said that there’s still a divide between traditional financial institutions and crypto firms, which has caused headwinds in institutional adoption over the last few months.

“Historically, those big players have been the biggest drivers of innovation,” he said, adding that the two sides are currently “stuck in a bit of a rut” and that the “big change” won’t happen until they stop fighting for superiority.

“It’s not crypto versus Goldman Sachs or crypto versus institutions. It’s a race to who can do crypto better.”

As for the impact on Bitcoin’s price from the institutional interest, Wood explained in the interview that ARK Invest’s $1-1.5 million BTC price prediction by 2030 was made on the back of an institutional investor BTC allocation analysis, which estimates most firms would allocate between 2.5% to 6.5% to BTC in their investment portfolios.

“These are the sorts of allocations that they would have made to emerging, new categories of assets like real estate in the 70s and small caps in the 80s and 90s,” Wood added.

Related: Bitcoin holds $28K due to spot buying, but institutional investors are still selling

ARK Invest estimates the BTC price towards $1.5 million will be pushed by institutional investors allocating between 2.5-6.5% of their portfolio into BTC. Source: ARK Invest

Linch, on the other hand, believes that “aggressive” institutional adoption will come when opportunities become more easily identifiable:

“Show them a way that it can be done and it can make them money and I guarantee you they won’t stand in the way of that. They’ll be pedal to the metal to exploit that opportunity.”

Positive sentiment has surrounded Bitcoin following the collapses of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature banks. BTC has surged 43.6% since its most recent low on March 11, compared with a 25.3% increase in the broader crypto market over that time, according to CoinGecko data.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

Bitcoin is beating Warren Buffett’s ‘crypto bet’ in 2023

Bitcoin’s rebound in 2023 has also seen Coinbase stock gaining over 100% year-to-date, boosting Cathie Wood’s ARK portfolio.

In 2023, Bitcoin (BTC) and Cathie Wood’s Coinbase (COIN) investment are finally outperforming Warren Buffett’s popular “crypto bet” in Brazil’s fintech giant Nubank (NU). 

Bitcoin vs. crypto-exposure stocks NU, COIN

As of March 17, Bitcoin’s price is up nearly 55% year-to-date (YTD). In comparison, Nubank has risen by only 26%. Meanwhile, another crypto-exposure asset, namely Coinbase stock (COIN), has seen the biggest rebound of the three, rising over 100% YTD. 

BTC/USD and COIN versus NU yearly performance. Source: TradingView

Nevertheless, Buffett’s investment has fared better than COIN over the past 12 months.

As of March 17, NU is down 38% year-over-year compared to COIN’s 61.76%, nearly equal to Bitcoin’s 37% losses in the same period.

Warren Buffett sticks by his neobank investment

Buffett’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway purchased $1.50 billion worth of class-A Nubank stock in two separate rounds in July 2021 and February 2022.

The news came as a surprise to many since Buffett is a well-known cryptocurrency critic, and Nubank offers crypto trading services via one of its wings called Nucripto. In May 2022, the bank said that it would allocate 1% of its net assets to Bitcoin.

“This move reinforces the company’s conviction in Bitcoin’s current and future potential in disrupting financial services in the region,” Nubank said at the time.

But despite Nubank’s crypto exposure and NU’s price decline, Buffett has not sold a single share, according to Berkshire’s latest annual earnings report.

The decision to keep holding NU through a rough market likely coincides with Nubank’s growth in the Latin American banking sector.

Nu Holdings, the parent company of Nubank, reported a solid 2022 with 140% year-on-year growth in revenue and a 38% year-over-year rise in active customers. 

Cathie Wood doubling down on COIN in 2023

The same cannot be said about Coinbase’s earnings in 2022 with its 57% drop in year-over-year revenue.

Related: Crypto acted as safe haven amid SVB and Signature bank run: Cathie Wood

But ARK Invest CEO, Cathie Wood, appears unfazed by continuing to buy COIN shares via her ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) and ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) in 2023. The COIN buys, in particular, account for roughly 30% of all the stock purchased so far this year.

COIN weight across ARK ETFs portfolios. Source: Ark Invest

As a result, Coinbase has become Wood’s fifth-largest holding on record worth nearly $670 million at the time of writing. 

Holding Bitcoin a better strategy?

Comparing Bitcoin’s price performance with the market debut of Coinbase and Nu Holdings reaffirms that BTC not only regularly outperform stocks, but also crypto-exposure stocks. Although exceptions have been seen, such as with the Bitcoin mining stock boom in 2021. 

But overall, holding Bitcoin is proving to be a better strategy year-over-year, and likely with more upside potential, than traditional stocks. 

Notably, NU has dropped by more than 50% since its market debut in December 2021. Since then, BTC has fared better with a 44% decline in the same period. 

NU’s returns since market debut vs. BTC. Source: TradingView

Similarly, COIN is down 80% since its IPO in April 2021. The same down-cycle, however, has seen Bitcoin only losing around 50%, emerging as better performer overall against crypto-exposure stocks such as Coinbase and Nu Holdings.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Cathie Wood’s ARK ignores Silvergate, buys Coinbase stock for 6th straight month

ARK appears unfazed by Silvergate as it increases Coinbase exposure by over 700,000 shares in 2023.

Bitcoin (BTC) exchange Coinbase has remained a firm “buy” for ARK Invest throughout its recent price drop.

The latest data shows ARK continuing to buy Coinbase shares despite bankruptcy concerns over  Silvergate Bank — a major Coinbase partner.

ARK ETF keeps topping up on Coinbase stock

In the latest demonstration of its fearless approach to the crypto space, ARK purchased another 47,568 shares of Coinbase on March 7.

This adds to the roughly 6 million shares already held in ARK’s ARKK exchange-traded fund (ETF) at the start of the month, and is already its third purchase of the week.

Coinbase has been under pressure since the start of February, dropping from local highs of $87.50 to current levels of $61.69 — a decrease of almost 30% in just over a month, according to data from TradingView.

COIN/USD 1-day candle chart (Nasdaq). Source: TradingView

While Silvergate precipitated fresh scrutiny regarding crypto exchanges in particular, events have not fazed ARK and its CEO Cathie Wood, known for bucking the trend and increasing exposure to assets such as Coinbase, even during the 2022 bear market.

In a recent edition of its weekly newsletter released on Feb. 27, ARK hinted at its rationale, voicing excitement at Coinbase announcing its Ethereum layer-2 network, Base.

“In our view, Coinbase’s decision to build and integrate its services into a decentralized crypto infrastructure highlights its deep alignment with the fair, transparent, and accessible financial services that public blockchains aim to offer,” it wrote.

“While it will not derive transaction revenue from Base at launch, Coinbase is likely to benefit financially if its Wallet serves as a trusted on-ramp and access point to applications on the network as it scales.”

ARKK COIN holdings chart. Source: Cathie’s Ark

The buy-ins have come at a price — the firm’s cost basis is currently at $254 per share, far in excess of its current value.

GBTC inches higher as Bitcoin ETF battle hits court

Also benefiting this week is the largest Bitcoin institutional investment vehicle, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

Related: GBTC approval could return a ‘couple billion dollars’ to investors: Grayscale CEO

Amid crunchtime for owner Grayscale in its long-running battle to convert and launch GBTC as an ETF in the United States, the trust saw a modest uptick in value as the week began.

A court is currently deciding whether U.S. regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, has the right to continue denying the launch of the market’s first Bitcoin spot price ETF.

GBTC remains near a record discount to the Bitcoin spot price, with its shares trading at an implied price nearly 50% lower than BTC/USD, per data from monitoring resource Coinglass.

As ever with the ETF narrative, criticism remained.

“GBTC spot ETF approval would dump the price of BTC and pump the ETF,” statistician Willy Woo argued on March 8.

“The pent up sell pressure on GBTC which accumulated during the bear market (as reflected in the GBTC discount) would be released onto the open market.”

GBTC premium vs. asset holdings vs. BTC/USD chart. Source: Coinglass

ARK meanwhile owns 5.53 million GBTC shares, having most recently increased exposure in November 2022, immediately after the FTX debacle broke. In January, it reduced its holdings by 500,000 shares.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Ark Invest CEO eyes crypto turnaround amid whiffs of a Fed pivot

The crypto and innovative tech investment firm is confident that inflation will fall and the Fed will pivot in 2023.

The chief executive from crypto and tech investment firm Ark Invest believes crypto assets will see a huge turnaround this year as inflation falls and the Fed pivots. 

In a company video blog on Jan. 23, Ark Invest CEO and CIO, Cathie Wood, started with a glance at the macroeconomic outlook. She said there was all kind of signals pointing to lower inflation which “suggests that the Fed should pivot soon.”

This would be beneficial for risk-on assets such as crypto as the macroeconomic outlook improves and financial belts are loosened.

Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood and Brett Winton on their 2023 outlook. Source: Ark Invest

She added that the firm believes inflation will come down to the 2% Fed target level. However, Wood predicted that inflation could fall below this level and even into negative territory because the money supply has been falling.

The market is waiting for a signal from the Federal Reserve, she said adding “we think that will come in the first half of 2023.” She said that Ark Invest portfolios should do very well if interest rates are about to fall below expectations.

Ark has a crypto asset fund, blockchain venture investments, a disruptive innovation fund, and six active technology and fintech-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Meanwhile, Ark’s Chief Futurist Brett Winton spoke of artificial intelligence (AI), noting that advances would accelerate in 2023. He also predicted that crypto assets would see a big turnaround this year.

“Public blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and crypto assets which are going through a bumpy period right now are going to become even more differentiated for their scarcity in an age of abundance.”

He added that when there is a turn in the macro environment, and the Fed “changes its spots,” the opportunity for “expansion and value realization within the venture and public market space is even larger.”

Related: Cathie Wood’s ARK enters 2023 with $5.7M Coinbase stock purchase

Wood concluded that these technological innovations are deflationary which will “cause a boom in the products and services associated with this innovation.”

Ark Invest’s most recent move was to take profit on some of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) holdings and load up on 320,000 Coinbase (COIN) shares worth around $17.6 million.

ARK Invest CEO sees potential crypto rebound amid whiffs of a Fed pivot

Cathie Wood, head of the crypto and innovative tech investment firm, is confident that inflation will fall and that the Fed will pivot in 2023.

The chief executive from crypto and tech investment firm ARK Invest believes crypto assets will see a huge turnaround this year as inflation falls and the Fed pivots. 

In a company video blog on Jan. 23, ARK Invest CEO and chief investment officer Cathie Wood began with an overview of the macroeconomic outlook. She said there was all kind of signals pointing to lower inflation, which “suggests that the Fed should pivot soon.”

This would be beneficial for risk-on assets such as crypto as the macroeconomic outlook improves and financial belts are loosened.

ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood and Brett Winton on their 2023 outlook. Source: ARK Invest

She added that the firm believes inflation will come down to the 2% Fed target level. However, Wood predicted that inflation could fall below this level and even into negative territory because the money supply has been falling.

The market is waiting for a signal from the Federal Reserve, she said, adding that “we think that will come in the first half of 2023.” She said that ARK Invest’s portfolios should do very well if interest rates are about to fall below expectations.

ARK has a crypto asset fund, blockchain venture investments, a disruptive innovation fund and six active technology and fintech-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Meanwhile, ARK Chief Futurist Brett Winton spoke about artificial intelligence (AI), noting that advances would accelerate in 2023. He also predicted that crypto assets would see a big turnaround this year.

“Public blockchains, cryptocurrencies and crypto assets which are going through a bumpy period right now are going to become even more differentiated for their scarcity in an age of abundance.”

He added that when there is a turn in the macro environment and the Fed “changes its spots,” the opportunity for “expansion and value realization within the venture and public market space is even larger.”

Related: Cathie Wood’s ARK enters 2023 with $5.7M Coinbase stock purchase

Wood concluded that these technological innovations are deflationary, which will “cause a boom in the products and services associated with this innovation.”

ARK Invest’s most recent move was to take profit on some of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) holdings and load up on 320,000 Coinbase (COIN) shares, worth around $17.6 million.