Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest files to create a bitcoin ETF

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Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest on Monday filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission to create a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

Wood, a longtime bitcoin bull, bought proxies for the digital asset under names like Coinbase and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. Now, the innovation investor seeks to own the asset himself.

The ETF’s investment objective is to seek to track the performance of bitcoin, according to the SEC filing.

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Bitcoin has hovered around $ 34,000 over the past two weeks as it struggles to recover its May highs. Many in the trading community have been watching closely if it will hold steady at $ 30,000 as it continues to decline. Some still say it could drop as much as $ 20,000 before rebounding.

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission again postponed the decision to approve the first bitcoin ETF. The latest action comes as SEC Chairman Gary Gensler called for more regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges and greater investor protection.

So far, eight more bitcoin ETFs have been filed with the SEC.

Coinbase, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is one of the top ten holdings of Wood’s flagship fund, ARK Innovation. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is one of the top ten holdings in ARK Next Generation Internet ETF.

Wood sees a future where bitcoin is part of a balanced investment portfolio. ARK Invest estimates that if 1% of each company in the S&P 500 were converted to bitcoin, the asset’s price would rise by more than $ 40,000 from current levels. If the level of liquidity increased to 10% for each company in the larger stock index, the price of bitcoin would rise by more than $ 400,000, the company said.

With Gary Gensler, a longtime financier who taught a digital currency course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and appointed to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, the watchdog could heat up to crypto during the Biden administration, said Wood at CNBC earlier this year.

Wood’s disruptive innovation funds recently turned a corner after months of underperformance amid a rotation to value stocks. ARK Innovation shares rose more than 16% in June.

with reporting by CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel and Yun Li.

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