According to a Wednesday Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest raised $16 million for a new fund. The private fund, which is registered in the United States and the Cayman Islands, is a private placement, which means it will not be available to the general public.
Ark Invest shift focus to private crypto
While the rest of the market is treading carefully due to the uncertainty in the crypto and broader financial markets, Cathie Wood is taking the opposite approach. Despite the volatile market, the founder of the investment management firm launched a new crypto fund.
Typically, private placements are sold to a small group of friends and family, accredited investors, or institutional clients. According to the filing, the firm began raising funds on March 1 and had sold over $7 million in the United States and around $9 million in the Cayman Islands as of March 15.
The fund’s goal has been set indefinitely, leaving it open to additional sales in the future. However, such private funds are only available to a select group of people whom the founder intends to include. As a result, despite its willingness to raise additional funds, the fund will remain smaller in comparison to the company’s other funds.
According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States, the name of the new cryptocurrency fund is the “ARK Crypto Revolutions Fund.” The new fund is evidence that the Florida-based investment manager is still bullish on Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency markets.
According to Bloomberg, Cathie Wood’s Innovation exchange-traded fund (ETF) attracted nearly $400 million on Friday, the largest increase since April 2021, as bank failures rocked the financial sector.
Cathie Wood’s position on crypto regulation
Cathie Wood has been outspoken in her criticism of regulators’ misplaced focus on the risks of blockchain technology and crypto markets, as concerns about the financial sector’s stability mount. Wood, who has long advocated for Bitcoin, described it as “insurance.”
While the US banking system was seizing up in response to bank runs threatening regional banks, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto networks didn’t skip a beat [..] Instability in the banking system threatened stablecoins, the on-ramps to DeFi, in stark contrast to regulator rhetoric.
Cathie Wood
Wood tweeted on Tuesday, following the failure of three US lenders — Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate Capital Corp., and Signature Bank — that regulators should have paid more attention to centralized and opaque points of failure looming in the traditional banking system rather than blocking decentralized, transparent, auditable, and well-functioning financial platforms with no central points of failure.
Ark investments center around Coinbase
The investment entity has been heavily invested in Coinbase stock in recent months, adding more shares to its ETFs. Following suit, the investment management firm added 301,437 more shares of COIN to the company’s Innovation ETF.
In addition, 52,525 shares of the same stock were added to the company’s Next Generation Internet ETF, bringing the total purchase price to $22.82 million. The purchases came at a time when the crypto market was beginning to recover, with the price of Bitcoin rising above $25,000 during yesterday’s intraday trading hours.
Advantages of private crypto-focused funds in current times
Private crypto-focused funds offer numerous advantages to an ailing traditional finance market. First, they provide access to new investment opportunities in the rapidly growing and innovative crypto world, which has the potential to generate high returns for investors. Additionally, these funds offer greater flexibility and autonomy in investment decisions, allowing them to adapt quickly to market changes and take advantage of emerging trends.
Moreover, private crypto-focused funds provide diversification benefits to traditional finance portfolios, reducing overall risk and volatility. They also offer greater transparency and accountability compared to traditional funds, which can increase investor confidence and trust.
Overall, private crypto-focused funds offer a viable alternative to traditional financial markets, providing investors with access to new and exciting opportunities while at the same time mitigating risk and increasing transparency. As the crypto industry continues to grow and evolve, private crypto-focused funds will likely become an increasingly important part of the investment landscape, offering unique advantages to both investors and the broader financial market.
