ARK becomes the first public fund management company to invest in Bitcoin

ARK Investment Management LLC (ARK) recently announced that the ARK Web x.0 ETF has become the first ETF to invest in Bitcoin. The ARK Web x.0 ETF is listed on NYSE Arca with the ticker ARKW. ARK purchased GBTC, the trading stock of the Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT).

ARK is a relatively active management company in the field of thematic ETF investment. ARKW's securities cover cloud computing, big data, shared services, social media, digital education, wearable technology, data mining, the Internet of Things (IOT) field, and now digital currency. Like ARK's other ETFs, ARKW can be purchased by investors through various trading platforms, including Fidelity, Charles Schwab and E-Trade. ARKW provides a way for investors who are optimistic about Bitcoin but do not want to hold Bitcoin directly to invest in Bitcoin.

凯西•伍德, founder and chief investment officer of ARK, said:

“We are very optimistic about Bitcoin and the technology behind it. In our view, the current price of Bitcoin is attractive to investors. Although Bitcoin technology is still in its infancy, it has been attracting financial companies with its disruptive and innovative charm, especially entrepreneurs and investment companies in Silicon Valley, Wall Street and Washington, DC.”

Wood founded ARK Investment Management in 2014. In 2013, she ended her 12-year tenure as Chief Investment Officer of Global Thematic Strategies at AllianceBernstein, where she managed nearly $5 billion in assets and achieved long-term superior investment returns for clients with her outstanding performance. According to the New York Business Journal, ARK holds shares in LinkedIn, Amazon, Facebook and Netflix, which fully demonstrates Wood's unique vision and her ability to see which companies have both disruptive and high-growth potential.

Wood told the New York Business Journal:

“We have been paying attention to Bitcoin for a long time. In fact, we started paying attention to Bitcoin not long after Satoshi Nakamoto designed it. Now Bitcoin is stable, so we chose to invest in it.”

迈克尔•索尼西恩, Grayscale's head of sales, said ARK can't hold Bitcoin directly because the IRS considers it an asset, but ARK can hold shares in a Bitcoin investment trust.

“While ARK cannot buy Bitcoin directly, they can buy shares of the Bitcoin Investment Trust in the same way they buy shares of Apple and Tesla.”

In March of this year, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Investment Trust received formal approval from the OTC Markets Group and will be listed on the OTCQX exchange of the OTC Markets Group with the trading code GBTC.

Grayscale founder巴里•希尔伯特said: "We are very pleased that a new company like ARK has invested in the Bitcoin Investment Trust. ARK is an excellent investment company."

Jane简•坎特, said:

“Grayscale is pioneering the way it connects cryptocurrencies to the broad investor community. Our investment philosophy is to invest in innovative companies, and we are excited to have our own mark of innovation within the ETF community.”

Does ARK’s entry also indicate that Wall Street will gradually accept Bitcoin as an investment method? Because as Wood pointed out, Bitcoin is now becoming more and more stable.

However, investors should note that although more and more consumers and merchants are beginning to accept Bitcoin, and Wall Street's investment in Bitcoin is gradually increasing, this does not necessarily increase the price of Bitcoin, nor does it necessarily increase the value of investment tools linked to Bitcoin (GBTC and ARKW). In fact, the price of Bitcoin has not risen due to the widespread adoption of Bitcoin, but has fallen instead. One of the reasons is that Bitcoin is not only a speculative investment tool, but also a currency that can be used for payment. Merchants who accept Bitcoin usually exchange it for legal currency immediately after receiving Bitcoin, causing the price of Bitcoin to fall.