Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest is another addition to the long list of companies seeking to offer a bitcoin-backed exchange-traded fund (ETF).
According to an SEC filing on Monday, Wood has teamed up with 21Shares to establish the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, to be named “ARKB”, pending approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission. ARKB would be listed on the CBOE Global Markets, and would use the S&P Bitcoin index as its benchmark.
Wood is publicly known to be a longtime bitcoin bull, and has been purchasing large sized blocks of bitcoin-related tickers such as Coinbase (COIN) and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), along with other innovation names she feels confident in.
ARK Invest commented on the volatility of bitcoin in the “risk factors” section of the filing.
“The market value of bitcoin is not related to any specific company, government or asset. The valuation of bitcoin depends on future expectations for the value of the Bitcoin network, the number of bitcoin transactions, and the overall usage of bitcoin as an asset. This means that a significant amount of the value of bitcoin is speculative, which could lead to increased volatility. Investors could experience significant gains, losses and/or volatility in the Trust’s holdings, depending on the valuation of bitcoin,” the S1 filing stated.
Eight other companies have filed a bitcoin-related ETF with the SEC and are awaiting the opportunity for approval. Could this be a gateway to other giants like Jeff Bezos and Chamath Palihapitiya?
