ARK Invest Continues to Divest Circle Shares Amid Rising Market Valuation

Cathie Wood’s investment company, ARK Invest, has continued its strategy of selling off Circle shares. Last week, ARK sold 1.25 million CRCL shares for approximately $243 million. On Monday, ARK sold an additional 415,844 Circle shares, netting $109.6 million, according to a trade notification obtained by Cointelegraph.

Recent Sales and Remaining Holdings

This recent transaction marks the fourth instance of ARK offloading Circle shares since the asset manager began reducing its CRCL stake on June 16, just 11 days after Circle’s public debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). With this latest sale, ARK has sold approximately 1.7 million Circle shares, representing 37% of its initial 4.5 million CRCL share purchase made on June 5.

Current Holdings in ARK Funds

Following the recent sales, ARK’s funds retain 2.6 million Circle shares. The latest sale involved transactions from three holding funds: ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF).

ARKK, the largest fund with assets under management (AUM) of $5.6 billion, sold 306,921 Circle shares on Monday. The fund retains approximately 1.7 million shares, accounting for roughly 6.8% of its total assets.

The ARKW and ARKF funds offloaded 72,302 and 36,621 shares, respectively. They now hold 625,645 and 369,128 shares, totaling 994,773 CRCL shares combined. Overall, the three funds together hold 2.6 million Circle shares after the latest sale, valued at approximately $69.9 million based on Monday’s CRCL closing price of $263.4.

Circle Shares Surge Towards USDC Market Cap

ARK’s latest CRCL sale coincides with a significant increase in Circle shares, which briefly peaked at $299 on Monday, according to NYSE data. This substantial appreciation in Circle shares has led to a surge in its market capitalization, bringing it closer to the market value of Circle’s flagship product, the USDC stablecoin.

According to CompaniesMarketCap data, Circle Internet Group is now ranked as the 324th largest public company globally, with a market capitalization of $63.9 billion. However, other sources like Investing.com estimate Circle’s market cap at roughly $60 billion, suggesting that the company has yet to surpass the current market value of USDC, which stands at $61.7 billion, as reported by CoinGecko.

Image Credit: cointelegraph.com