Cathie Wood’s ARK Greyscale Bitcoin Trust will sell shares when BTC reaches $34,000

Investment firm ARK is selling shares of Greyscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) amid a market rally fueled by anticipation of a BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF).

On October 23, ARK – led by pro-Bitcoin (BTC) investment veteran Cathy Wood – sold 100,739 GBTC shares ($2.5 million) from the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), according to a trade announcement seen by Cointelegraph.

The transaction comes as GBTC touched a multi-month high of $24.7 for the first time since May 2022. According to data from TradingView, GBTC is up more than 200% year-to-date and is up nearly 30% in the last 30 days.

GBTC Sale ARK's officially reported GBTC trading dates back to November 2022, when the firm added 450,272 GBTC shares to ARKW 4.5 million.

The latest GBTC sale volume represents 2% of the GBTC value in ARKW's portfolio, or $122.6 million as of October 23rd. GBTC is the largest asset held by ARKW, with 10.4% of the product's exposure to Coinbase and Roku shares. respectively with 9% and 7.4%.

According to Bitcoin activist Samson Mou, ARK's latest sale of GBTC may be linked to the firm awaiting a decision from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on its proposal to list a Bitcoin-based ETF. Grayscale filed a new BTC ETF registration statement with the SEC on October 19, just days after ARK adjusted its position on the Bitcoin ETF on October 11.

“It makes sense to sell ARK GBTC as the supply is dwindling and their own ETF filing is pending,” Mow told Cointelegraph.

Related: Bitcoin ETF Gray Files for New Position on NYSE Arca

Some online traders also speculated that if ARK were to be approved for a Bitcoin ETF, the firm would place the ETF as the first in ARKW and drop GBTC.

$ARKW is the largest holder of $GBTC by WEIGHT at 8.36%. So @JSeyff : If ARK is approved for a Spot Bitcoin ETF, they'll put GBTC in the #1 spot with that ETF. If ARK sells GBTC, there is a vague rule like… pic.twitter.com/LLv7lDa065

— Jay Dilks (@DilksJay) October 14, 2023

ARK did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph's comment.

In addition to selling GBTC, ARK also sold 32,158 Coinbase shares from ARKW and 10,455 Coinbase shares from ARK Fintech Innovation Fund for a total of $3.4 million. The investment firm continued to pile on shares of Robinhood, adding $300,000 to ARKW on Oct. 23 at $32,158.

Magazine: Magazine: How to Protect Your Crypto in a Volatile Market – Bitcoin OGs and Experts Weigh In