Cathie Wood's ARK Buys $21.6M Coinbase Shares as SEC Suit Sends COIN Prices Tumbling

Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management, the second-largest holder of Coinbase Global (COIN) stock, doubled down on its investment in the crypto exchange after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Exchange sued the only publicly traded crypto exchange sending share prices tumbling.

ARK bought 419,324 shares of Coinbase, worth around $21.6 million based on Tuesday's closing price of $51.61. The buy was split across ARK's Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKK), the Next Generation Internet ETF (NYSE:ARKW), and the Fintech Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKF).

The purchase, the first since May 3, took Ark’s total Coinbase holdings to 11.44 million shares, valuing the position at around $590 million.

The SEC sued Coinbase on allegations of violating federal securities law just one day after filing a similar suit against Binance. According to the SEC, Coinbase acted as a broker, exchange and clearing agency simultaneously without registering as any such organization.

Coinbase's stock was down over 12% at the end of U.S. trading hours on Tuesday. Year-to-date, COIN is still up over 50%.

Read more: SEC Sues Coinbase on Unregistered Securities Exchange Allegations