coindesk.com
- $ARK Invest built a stake of nearly 3.3 million SpaceX shares worth more than $500 million on the day of the company’s record-setting IPO.
- Cathie Wood’s firm sold more than $325 million of stock across at least 13 companies in the days around the listing.
- $ARK’s shift of risk capital from crypto toward high-growth names like SpaceX, alongside its $2.5 trillion base-case valuation target for the company by 2030, underscores how institutional investors are favoring AI and space IPOs over digital assets in the near term.
$ARK Invest bought nearly 3.3 million shares of SpaceX (SPCX) as Elon Musk's company went public in the largest IPO ever on Friday, building a stake worth more than $500 million by the end of the day.
The shares, priced at $135 for the sale, closed at $160.95, rising more than 19.2% on their first day.
The Cathie Wood-owned firm liquidated almost $280 million of stock in the week before the listing, then sold another roughly 948,000 shares across 13 companies worth at least $48 million on Friday, including Advanced Micro Devices, Roku and Baidu, according to daily emailed statements over the period.
The $ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) did the bulk of the buying, ending the day with SpaceX at 3.28% of its portfolio.
A first-day pop of almost 20% on the largest IPO in history signals institutions are paying up for high-beta innovation risk again. While bitcoin is the highest-beta asset in the group, the hottest trade in the market is now a wave of AI and space listings, with OpenAI and Anthropic also filing to go public.
There is a finite amount of risk capital, and when even a bitcoin bull like Wood is rotating toward it rather than adding to crypto, it's a sign that funds are likely to continue being sucked out of the crypto markets in the near term.
An $ARK model targets a $2.5 trillion enterprise value for SpaceX in 2030, with a bull case near $3.1 trillion, built off the company's $350 billion private valuation in 2024.
$ARK also runs a spot bitcoin ETF, and Wood has been among the most vocal institutional bitcoin bulls, with long-term price targets running into seven figures.
