Cathie Woods Ark Invest Sells 1.4 Million COIN Shares

Cathie Woods Ark Invest reportedly sold more than 1.4 million shares of Coinbase Global (COIN) on Tuesday, according to the company's daily trade newsletter.

These shares were sold through three of Ark's exchange-traded funds, Next Generation Internet (ARKW), Fintech Innovation (ARKF), and Ark Innovation (ARKK), the latter of which sold the majority at 1,133,495 COIN shares.

This sell-off led to Coinbase stock closing on Tuesday down 21.08% at $52.93, in short, Ark Invest sold off around $75 million worth of shares in America's number one cryptocurrency exchange.

Coinbase's third largest investor was who held about 8.95 million shares at the end of June, according to Bloomberg. The corp has been purchasing shares in the crypto exchange since it debuted on the Nasdaq in April of 2021, with its last major purchase of $30 million coming back in May.

ARKK, the firm’s flagship ETF, had big gains in 2020 due to the surging stock market, since then though the firm has shedded 57.84% since the start of the year, due in large part to speculation that the pandemic rally was coming to an end, slowing the growth of the entire stock market.

This sell-off comes just days after the SEC announced a probe looking into if Coinbase had allowed its customers to purchase assets that should have been classified as securities.

The investigation most likely stems from last week's reported arrest of a former Coinbase employee who is accused of insider trading, as it was discovered he was giving his brother the list of tokens to be added to the exchange.

Coinbase did not take these claims lightly as its chief legal officer Paul Grewal took to Twitter to defend his employer's honor stating “We are confident that our rigorous diligence process―a process the SEC has already reviewed―keeps securities off our platform, and we look forward to engaging with the SEC on the matter,”

Ark's move may be followed by other investors, as Coinbase had already lost some of its reputability when it laid off a significant number of staff, even rescinding certain already accepted job offers.