ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood allocates $9.3 million toward Coinbase shares

ARK Invest’s flagship fund, Ark Innovation ETF (ARKF) acquired 139,105 Coinbase shares, and ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) — 23,220. In total, the funds could have spent around $9.27 million.

The decision came as Coinbase’s market capitalization fell 23.5% over the past week. Since the start of the year, the shares have risen 61.3%.

On February 10, Coinbase shares fell by 4.26%.

The decline came amid a warning addressed to cryptocurrency platforms from Gary Gensler, head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to take note of Kraken’s decision to shut down the program staking for US customers.

Previously it emerged that the exchange will pay a $30 million fine and shut down the corresponding service. The latter was not registered, according to the regulator.

On February 13, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the platform’s staking services cannot be considered securities offerings. He said the company is prepared to defend this claim in court.

Earlier, Armstrong spoke out against banning staking for retail investors, calling it a ‘horrific path’.

As a reminder, in October 2022 ARK Invest bought Coinbase shares. In November, for these purposes the firm’s structures spent another $21.4 million, in December — $3 million and $5 million.