Investment management firm ARK Invest has racked up more than a quarter of a billion dollars worth of exposure to Bitcoin.
An update by the Cathie Wood-run ARK Invest reveals that the ARKW exchange-traded fund (ETF) now holds 8,659,237 shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) fund worth $338,316,390.
As of September 3rd, ARKW’s investment in GBTC comprised 5.72% of the total value of the fund.
The ARKW ETF, which is also known as ARK NEXT Generation Internet ETF, invests in disruptive technologies and companies in fields such as blockchain, peer-to-peer services, big data and artificial intelligence (AI).
ARKW’s GBTC investment is now the second-largest in its portfolio after the electric carmaker Tesla.
Besides the allocation to the Bitcoin fund, ARKW also owns shares of the US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. At time of publishing, ARKW holds 1,070,564 shares of Coinbase valued at $287,103,853. ARKW’s Coinbase investment is the fourth-largest in its portfolio, comprising about 4.85% of the portfolio.
ARK Invest’s founder, CEO and chief investment officer, Cathie Wood, recently came to the defense of Bitcoin after hedge fund manager John Paulson called crypto a “limited supply of nothing.”
“John Paulson is – he made an incredible call during the mortgage crisis. He has been a gold bug, I would say, for most of his career. And many investors who have spent their careers focused on gold, cannot understand the digital concept associated with gold.
What we think he’s missing is this is much more than just a store of value or digital gold. Bitcoin in particular, is a new global monetary system. It’s a rules-based monetary policy, which is completely decentralized and therefore is not subject to the whims of policymakers. In fact, it’s a hedge against the whims of policymakers, especially in emerging markets.”
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