Ark Invest Analysts Share Bullish Outlook for Coinbase, Block

Investment firm says Coinbase-BlackRock partnership is “by far the strongest signal” for institutional interest in crypto

article-image

Ark CEO Cathie Wood | Blockworks exclusive art by Axel Rangel

share

key takeaways

  • Bitcoin’s price could surge between $200,000 and $500,000 if institutions together allocated between 2.5% and 6.5% of their portfolios to BTC, Ark found
  • Block’s Cash App tipped to enjoy long-term growth in part thanks to its bitcoin offerings

Coinbase’s partnership with BlackRock could be a catalyst for bitcoin’s price to rise by up to $500,000, according to Ark Invest analyst Yassine Elmandjra. 

The innovation-focused fund manager doubled down on Ark’s bullish bitcoin projection after BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, revealed it would offer institutional clients access to bitcoin via Coinbase Prime.  

BlackRock’s Aladdin platform, where bitcoin will be offered, supports nearly $22 trillion in assets managed by 55,000 investment professionals, according to Ark Invest. 

“This is I’d say by far the strongest signal we’ve seen around institutions considering crypto as a new asset class and that Wall Street is finally ready to make the leap here,” Elmandjra said during a Tuesday webinar. “I think a partnership of this caliber could usher trillions of dollars into the crypto asset class in the coming years.”

Based on daily returns across asset classes during the past 10 years, Elmandjra added, Ark’s analysis suggests that an allocation to bitcoin in well diversified portfolios should range from roughly 2.5% when minimizing volatility, to 6.5% when maximizing returns per unit of risk.

Based on Ark’s simulations of one million portfolios composed of various asset classes, institutional allocations between 2.5% and 6.5% could impact bitcoin’s price by $200,000 and $500,000, respectively, the analyst said.

“This is definitely a big win for not just Coinbase, but for the broader crypto asset class,” Elmandjra said.

In late July, Ark Invest sold off roughly 1.4 million shares of Coinbase, worth about $79 million at the time. The SEC had just classified nine Coinbase-listed tokens as securities in a complaint alleging that a former Coinbase product manager and people close to him used classified information for insider trading

Coinbase shares were trading for $88 at 3:30 pm ET, down roughly 10% on the day. The stock has fallen 65% in the year to date but rallied 63% in the past month. Coinbase’s second quarter earnings call is scheduled for 5:30 pm ET Tuesday. 

Block’s Cash App ‘key part of bitcoin ecosystem’

Ark analysts remain bullish on Block, the fintech firm led by bitcoin bull Jack Dorsey, in part due to its long-term confidence in BTC.

Block posted net revenue of $4.4 billion in the second quarter, down 6% year over year. The decrease was driven by a reduction in bitcoin revenue for Block’s Cash App to $1.8 billion, down 34% from a year ago. Although, the company earns just 2% profit on its bitcoin services.

“[We] see Cash App up there as a key consumer-facing platform in the bitcoin ecosystem as a strong positive,” Ark Analyst Maximilian Friedrich said on the webinar. “We think that this position Cash App, as it relates to the bitcoin ecosystem in the future, should be a key driver in their growth and also a key driver in their international strategy, where they can use bitcoin to penetrate new markets.”  

Ark sold about 235,000 shares of Block from its Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), the firm revealed in a Monday email. They would’ve been worth about $21 million at the time.

Ark’s flagship ETF, ARKK, currently weights Coinbase and Block at 4.65% and 4.9% of its $7.9 billion portfolio, respectively.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
  • Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.jpg

Research

Bluefin possibly stands at an inflection point. The token is near an all-time low yet the protocol’s spot volume market share and derivatives exchange usage have been increasing month over month since its November launch. Given its current market position and the upcoming upgrades (for both Bluefin and SUI), there may be upside potential before the increased supply growth in December. However, strong opposition from existing competitors (like Cetus and Suilend), as well as new entrants (like Aftermath), pose key challenges to Bluefin’s medium-term success.

article-image

Top Committee Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her opening statement accused Atkins of “helping billionaire CEOs like Sam Bankman-Fried”

article-image

Introducing garbled circuits for enhanced privacy and regulatory compliance

article-image

Ross Ulbricht was a freedom maximalist building freedom tech, powered by Bitcoin

article-image

Solana validators can reap benefits including payments, votes and community clout

article-image

Sponsored

WalletConnect is cementing itself as the essential connectivity layer, ensuring wallets remain the entry point for billions of users

article-image

According to a legal filing, Galaxy Digital helped boost the price of LUNA while quietly selling its tokens