Coinbase Shares Jump After Ark Funds' Big Bet

Newly-listed Coinbase saw its shares surge on Thursday after Cathie Wood's Ark funds snapped up a whopping $246 million worth of Coinbase shared upon its debut.

The flagship Ark Innovation ETF, Ark Fintech Innovation ETF, and Ark Next Generation Internet ETF bought a combined 749,205 shares of Coinbase, according to data released by the funds in an email.

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Coinbase Global Inc's shares jumped 11.4 percent in early trades on Thursday to reach $365.50, following its whipsaw debut. On Wednesday, Coinbase began trading at $381 a share, a 52 percent increase over a $250 reference price set by Nasdaq on Tuesday (a reference price is set by a stock exchange based on expectations for where the stock will open). The stock swung as low as $310 and as high as $429 in a volatile day of trading that reflected the unpredictable nature of cryptocurrency prices. Coinbase ended the day at $328.28, valuing the company at $85.7 billion counting all of its outstanding shares — more than 10 times its last valuation as a private company.

READ ALSO: Coinbase Gifts 100 Shares Each To Employees Ahead Of Public Listing

A chunky $168 million Coinbase shares were added to Wood's flagship ARK Innovation fund, the remaining went into its Next Generation and Fintech Innovation funds.

The celebrity fund manager gained prominence last year among retail investors and managed to attract a steady pile of cash into her red-hot funds. The ARK Innovation fund saw assets under management rise from $1.86 billion at the end of 2019 to nearly $22 billion as of March.

Founded in San Francisco in 2012, Coinbase allows people and companies to buy and sell various digital currencies, including Bitcoin, the most popular, and Ether. The company, which takes a transaction fee, has been riding high on a boom year for cryptocurrencies, as investors have poured money into the assets and driven their prices to new highs.

Yesterday, the price of Bitcoin hit a record well above $64,000 amid excitement for Coinbase’s listing, making it more than double its value at the beginning of this year.