The recent hike in the price of Coinbase Global Inc shares has prompted one of the company's most prominent backers to dump the stock. Cathie Wood's Ark Invest, one of the early and consistent supporters of Coinbase and Bitcoin innovators, has dumped as much as 135,152 shares worth about $12 million as of Tuesday's close.
The sell-off, which is one of the few moves the Cathie Wood-run firm will be making this year, has stirred a lot of speculation on the broader crypto market. While many see this as a vote of no confidence, a number of analysts believe there is no cause for alarm as Ark Invest is known for taking advantage of periodic highs and lows in the shares of Coinbase.
Another reason many are not bothered about the sell-off is that the liquidated amount represents just about 0.14% of the fund's total holdings.
Cathie Wood has made a series of Coinbase shares acquisitions thus far this year, extending her lead as one of the key external holders of the exchange's stock. Her increased position in the stock has finally paid off, seeing COIN soar to a price above $90 in the past couple of days.
Coinbase lawsuit and potential
One of the key permutations being attributed to the Ark Invest sell-off is the outlook of Coinbase with respect to its ongoing lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over allegations that the trading platform operated as an unregistered securities broker and clearing house.
While the underlying reasons for the sell-off remain unknown, the possibility that Ark Invest is downsizing its Coinbase position due to this lawsuit is low. This is because, by the general assessment, the allegations against Coinbase by the SEC are not so grievous as to spark a major impact that might affect the trading platform's operations in the long term.