Ben Strack

Firms viewed by many as leading contenders in the bitcoin ETF race are also keen on launching funds associated with ether futures contracts.



Ark Invest and 21Shares are listed as sub-advisers on the proposed ARK 21Shares Active Ethereum Futures ETF (ARKZ) and the ARK 21Shares Active Bitcoin Ethereum Strategy ETF (ARKY), according to a Thursday filing.&nbsp;



The fund adviser on both planned products is Empowered Funds, a subsidiary of white-label ETF platform Alpha Architect.



The document <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1592900/000182912623005634/easeries_485apos.htm">notes</a> that ARKZ would invest at least 25% of its total assets in cash-settled ether futures contracts, such as those traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). It may also invest in US Treasury securities, money market instruments and repurchase agreements.&nbsp;



ARKY would be similar, but would invest in both bitcoin futures and ether futures contracts, as well as its own planned ETFs that hold such contracts.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The funds mirror <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/eth-related-etf-proposals">similar filings launched by a range of issuers in recent weeks</a>. Sources told Blockworks earlier this month that the Securities and Exchange Commission is now ready to consider approving ether futures ETFs. This comes after reports in May suggested the regulator had requested issuers to pause its efforts in introducing such products to the market.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-consider-ether-futures-etfs">SEC now ready to consider ETH futures ETFs, sources say — but what’s changed?</a>



Ark Invest and 21Shares <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ark-files-for-bitcoin-etf">first partnered to launch a spot bitcoin ETF in 2021</a>. The SEC blocked its first two attempts and is currently reviewing the companies’ latest proposal.&nbsp;



The firms most recently re-filed for such a product in April — two months before <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/blackrock-clout-bitcoin-etf-approval">BlackRock revealed plans to try to launch a bitcoin ETF</a>, spurring other fund issuers to jump back into the race.&nbsp;



The SEC said on Aug. 11 that <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-delays-bitcoin-etf-decision">it would “institute proceedings”</a> to determine whether it should approve or deny the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF.



After the SEC delayed its decision on the spot bitcoin ETF proposal, Ark Invest and 21Shares shared plans to try to launch <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ark-21shares-spot-bitcoin-etf">three types of bitcoin futures ETFs</a>, including one that would also invest in crypto- and blockchain-related equities.



Empowered Funds was also listed as the adviser of that planned product trio.



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Ark Invest, 21Shares join the rush to launch ether futures ETFs

<div id="highlights-block_61549828ba1ea" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Coinbase is the fourth-largest holding in the Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), behind only Tesla, Teledoc Health and Roku</li>
 <li>Ark had bought more than 1 million shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust and about 215,000 shares of Coinbase on a single day in June amid bitcoin price drop</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Ark Invest has bought more Coinbase for its largest ETF focused on cutting-edge firms as the fund group remains bullish on crypto.



The investment manager bought 184,199 shares of Coinbase, worth about $42 million, for the Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), according to a firm disclosure on Tuesday. ARKK, which has about $21 billion assets under management, holds a 5% allocation in the crypto exchange, <a href="https://ark-funds.com/wp-content/fundsiteliterature/holdings/ARK_INNOVATION_ETF_ARKK_HOLDINGS.pdf">according to Ark’s website</a>, making it the fourth-largest holding in the portfolio.



ARKK added roughly 105,000 Coinbase shares across a two-day span last week, separate disclosures show.



An Ark spokesperson did not immediately respond to Blockworks’ request for comment.



The share purchases come after SkyBridge Capital Founder Anthony Scaramucci told Bloomberg that he predicts a large bank to one day buy a crypto company like Coinbase. The exchange, which <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-direct-listing-shares-are-limited-demand-is-high/">went public in April</a>, reported about $2.2 billion of revenue in this year’s second quarter.&nbsp;



Coinbase last week<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-cancels-plans-to-launch-lending-program/"> put off its plans</a> to launch a lending product after the company claimed it was threatened by the SEC. But executives said the exchange is working on a regulatory proposal to submit to US lawmakers, citing a need for clarity and fairness in the space.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbases-new-direct-deposit-feature-allows-users-to-get-paychecks-in-crypto/">announced on Monday</a> that users will soon be able to directly deposit any percentage of their paycheck into their accounts on its platform. It also revealed that its Coinbase Card would become available to all US-based customers this Fall.



Ark Invest also bought about 164,000 shares — worth nearly $40 million — of Square, the Tuesday disclosure indicated. Square, a digital payments service company led by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, represents about 4% of ARKK’s holdings.&nbsp;



Dorsey <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/jack-dorsey-confirms-square-will-make-bitcoin-hardware-wallet/">announced in July</a> that Square would build a hardware wallet and service to make bitcoin custody more mainstream. In a second quarter shareholder letter, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/square-reports-bitcoin-related-revenue-up-200-buys-afterpay/">the company reported</a> that its revenue from bitcoin-related services was up 200% on-year.



Ark chief investment officer Cathie Wood said at the SALT conference in New York City earlier this month that bitcoin’s price <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ark-invest-cathie-wood-is-bullish-on-eth-as-proof-of-stake-transition-nears/">could go above $500,000</a> if companies continue to diversify their cash into bitcoin and institutional investors start allocating 5% of their funds to the cryptocurrency.



The fund group <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ark-invest-buys-grayscale-coinbase-during-bitcoin-price-drop/">had bought</a> more than 1 million shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust and about 215,000 shares of Coinbase on a single day in June as <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bitcoin-rallies-after-tumbling-below-30000-stocks-climb-after-fed-hearing-markets-wrap/">bitcoin fell below $30,000</a>.

Ark Invest’s Largest ETF Buys More Coinbase

Sam Reynolds

<div id="highlights-block_6140cd8501928" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>At the recent SALT conference in New York, Ark’ CIO Cathie Wood said her firm is “watching” Ethereum and calls for a 60-40 bitcoin-ether portfolio balance </li>
 <li>Wood also believes bitcoin can hit 500,000 — if more companies double-down and put it on their balance sheet</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood doubled down on her crypto convictions at the recent SALT conference in New York, sharing price predictions and a renewed enthusiasm for ether.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Cathie Wood: Bitcoin could be worth $500,000 if institutions start allocating 5% of their funds towards it <a href="https://t.co/I4LObnsq0m">pic.twitter.com/I4LObnsq0m</a>&mdash; Blockworks (@Blockworks_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Blockworks_/status/1437536668794433540?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Wood said her firm is keeping an eye on ether, saying that “Our confidence in ether has gone up dramatically as we&#8217;ve seen the beginning of this transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.&#8221;



While Ark doesn’t own any NFTs, according to Wood, she said that the explosive growth in use of Ethereum thanks to NFTs is bringing new investment opportunities.



&#8220;Ether is seeing an explosion in developer activity thanks to NFTs and DeFi,&#8221; she said on stage. &#8220;I&#8217;m fascinated with what&#8217;s going on in DeFi, which is collapsing the cost of the infrastructure for financial services in a way that I know that the traditional financial industry does not appreciate right now.&#8221;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Picking favorites</h3>



According to <a href="https://whalewisdom.com/stock/ethe" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">13F filings,</a> Ark Investment Management is the largest holder of Grayscale’s Ethereum trust holding approximately $16.1 million in shares. 



Aside from ether, Wood is still quite bullish on bitcoin predicting prices to possibly hit the six-figure range.&nbsp;



“We believe the price will be tenfold what it is today. Instead of $45,000, over $500,000,” Wood said on stage. But, that requires “companies to continue to diversify their cash into something like bitcoin, and institutional investors start allocating 5% of their funds in bitcoin,” she added.&nbsp;&nbsp;



When asked what crypto she’d hold if she only could pick one, she responded that answering that question is becoming “harder and harder” but she’d still probably pick bitcoin.&nbsp;



“I think I’d still default to bitcoin because countries are now deeming it legal tender and we haven’t even put that into our thinking,” she said.&nbsp;



Ark holds about $284.9 million of shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, and it makes up approximately 5.5% of the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF.



However, according to a recent filing from Ark, the fund is now able to hold “exchange-traded funds domiciled in Canada.” This comes as the SEC continues to delay approval of a bitcoin ETF, with many investors looking north to Toronto — which first listed bitcoin ETFs earlier this year — instead. Given this competition for investment-grade bitcoin products, the GBTC <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/grayscale-bitcoin-trust-premium-hits-all-time-low/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">discount</a> continues to trade in the double-digits <a href="https://ycharts.com/companies/GBTC/discount_or_premium_to_nav" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hitting -15%</a> Monday. The price of bitcoin is currently at $46,794, up 5%, according to <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinGecko</a>.



Are you a UK or EU reader that can’t get enough investor-focused content on digital assets?<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a> in London on November 15th and 16th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) London. Use code ARTICLE for £75 off your ticket. <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.

Ark Invest Cathie Wood is Bullish on ETH as Proof-of-Stake Transition Nears

Casey Wagner

<div id="highlights-block_6138db62af5ae" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>ARK Investment Management leans into their transparency promise with new ESG-like fund </li>
 <li>The filing follows the launch of the first cryptocurrency clean mining investment vehicle </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management has proposed an exchange-traded fund (ETF) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that promises “transparency.” The fund appears to be Wood’s take on a product in the highly-debated environmental, social and governance (ESG) category.&nbsp;



The ARK Transparency ETF seeks to follow an index “designed to track the price movements of stocks of approximately 100 companies that receive high scores for transparency,” the company said in its SEC <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001579982/000110465921111628/tm2126418d1_485apos.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filing</a>. 



The index will exclude alcohol, banking, chemicals, confectionery, fossil fuel transportation, gambling, natural gas, oil and tobacco, ARK revealed. Exclusion of certain industries is a key trait of ESG investment products.&nbsp;



Transparency, for ARK, has become a key pillar of its business and investment strategy, as demonstrated by the <a href="https://research.ark-invest.com/hubfs/1_Download_Files_ARK-Invest/Marketing_Material/ARK%20Invest_082021_Transparency%20Standards.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ARK Transparency Standards</a>, a document released last month that outlines the company’s commitment to investors. 



“ARK is very proud of showing their holdings every day and their trades every day, it&#8217;s like their thing,” said Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. “If you think about the word ‘transparency,’ versus ESG, transparency is just a very, very favorable word to most people.”&nbsp;



Despite the controversy surrounding the category, ESG ETFs saw a record inflow of $83.04 billion in the first half of 2021, according to ETFGI data. Inflows for the first six months of 2021 came in just shy of the total inflows for 2020, which was $88.95 billion.&nbsp;



There are no guidelines set by the SEC regulating what funds can be labeled ESG, meaning issuers can select any holdings, and investors looking to do good should check under the hood.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Greenwashing running rampant?</h3>



London-based non-profit IndustryMap conducted a <a href="https://influencemap.org/report/Climate-Funds-Are-They-Paris-Aligned-3eb83347267949847084306dae01c7b0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">review</a> of the ESG industry in August and reported that more than 70% of climate-themed investment funds failed to live up to standards set in the Paris Agreement. 



“​​A key finding of the research is the wide spectrum of terms used to describe climate-themed strategies in listed equity funds and the resulting difficulty, even within financial databases, of comparison between them,” the report noted.&nbsp;



Funds are being greenwashed, or presented in a way that exaggerates or misrepresents the investment strategy to be more environmentally conscious than it really is, IndustryMap said. Asset managers that failed to live up to the Paris standards include UBS, BlackRock and Invesco.



The largest ESG ETF is the First Trust Preferred Securities &amp; Income ETF with $7.54B in assets under management, according to data from ETF.com. The fund’s top holdings include US government bonds, US dollars, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase.&nbsp;



The Nuveen ESG International Developed Markets Equity ETF, with $144.46 million in assets, has holdings in Nestle, Sony and L’Oreal.&nbsp;



“ESG is subjective. If you or I opened up an ESG ETF, for example, we may have different views on whether Facebook should be in there,” said Balchunas. “There&#8217;s a lot of hot button stocks that are in many of the ESG ETFs, and then on the flip, there are certain ESG ETFs that exclude stocks that would be considered by many to fit ESG.”



ARK’s fund filing follows the launch of the new Viridi Cleaner Energy Crypto-Mining &amp; Semiconductor ETF, a fund devoted to investing in environmentally friendly cryptocurrency mining efforts. Top holdings include Hut 8 Mining Corp and Marathon Digital.&nbsp;



While Viridi’s clean energy fund got the green light from the SEC, investors and issuers are still awaiting a decision about a cryptocurrency fund. Many analysts believe that a bitcoin futures ETF may receive approval before a spot traded product.&nbsp;



“We think that there will be Bitcoin futures ETFs launched in the middle to later part of October,” said Balchunas. “For spot, I think maybe next year at some point. Again, assuming the futures go well, the market-makers are reporting back that it works and if there&#8217;s some kind of regulatory framework for bitcoin in general, that would also help.” 



Are you a UK or EU reader that cant get enough investor-focused content on digital assets?<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a> in London on November 15th and 16th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) London. Use code ARTICLE for £75 off your ticket. <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.

As Greenwashing in ESG Runs Rampant, ARK Promises Transparency

<div id="highlights-block_60da35b1d1c9a" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The ETF, if approved, will trade on the Cboe BZX Exchange and will track the price of bitcoin using the S&amp;P Bitcoin Index, according to the filing. </li>
 <li>The filing comes as Ark starts to reverse a rocky few months.</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management in partnership with Switzerland-based 21Shares filed for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) Monday, the long line of firms seeking Securities and Exchange Commision approval. 



The ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), if approved, will trade on the Cboe BZX Exchange and will track the price of bitcoin using the S&amp;P Bitcoin Index, according to the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001869699/000119312521201955/d165184ds1.htm">filing</a>. 



&#8220;ARK pursuing a bitcoin ETF makes sense on multiple levels,&#8221; said Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store. &#8220;They currently have a sizeable allocation to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) within the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW).  A bitcoin ETF would allow them to avoid paying fees on that position or any other future bitcoin investment vehicles they might consider.&#8221;



Wood, a long time crypto bull, has remained unphased by the largest digital asset’s recent selloff. She said that bitcoin is “on sale right now,” but has not necessarily reached its bottom, during a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2021-05-19/ark-s-cathie-wood-says-bitcoin-will-still-rise-to-500-000-video" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recent</a> interview on Bloomberg TV. Wood still anticipates bitcoin reaching $500,000, even after the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/elon-musk-flip-flops-on-bitcoin-yet-again/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Elon Musk-tweet</a> induced frenzy.&nbsp;



“We go through soul searching times like this and scrape the models, and yes our conviction is just as high,” Wood said during the interview. “Elon will come back and be part of that ecosystem.”



Fidelity, VanEck, Skybridge and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/galaxy-digital-files-for-bitcoin-etf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Galaxy Digital</a> have all submitted similar filings in recent months. The SEC delayed its decision on whether or not to approve VanEck’s filing earlier this month and requested further comment from interested parties about how a bitcoin ETF would impact the broader market.&nbsp;



The filing comes as Ark starts to reverse a rocky few months. The Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), has resumed inflows and gained 26% since its May low. Wood’s other products are also on the rise. The ARK Autonomous Technology &amp; Robotics ETF (<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ARKQ:US" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ARKQ</a>) is up 12.5% year-to-date, and the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ARKF:US" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ARKF</a>) has gained 8% this year.



While many were hopeful that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler would take a more favorable approach to crypto, little seems to have changed since he started the role in April.&nbsp;



The SEC has consistently blocked all cryptocurrency ETF applications, citing issues with security and pricing, which can be difficult given the 24/7 trading cycle of digital assets and their overall volatile nature.&nbsp;Still, firms have not stopped submitting applications. This year alone, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/fidelity-enters-the-bitcoin-etf-race/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fidelity</a> filed for the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/goldman-sachs-files-for-cryptocurrency-tied-etf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Goldman Sachs</a> submitted forms for a cryptocurrency-tied product and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/grayscale-filing-to-convert-gbtc-to-etf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Grayscale emphasized</a> their commitment to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an ETF as soon as possible.

Ark & 21Shares File for Bitcoin ETF

<div id="highlights-block_60d3a36a20054" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Firm’s CEO has said the firm believes bitcoin could hit $500,000 over long-term</li>
 <li>Grayscale and Coinbase among top 10 holdings in ARKW and ARKK ETFs, respectively </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Ark Invest bought more than 1 million shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust and about 215,000 shares of crypto exchange Coinbase on Tuesday, according to <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/cathie-wood-bitcoin-ark-etfs-buy-coinbase-grayscale-trust-crypto-2021-6-1030547547" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>, after the price of bitcoin hit its lowest level in months.



Bitcoin <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bitcoin-rallies-after-tumbling-below-30000-stocks-climb-after-fed-hearing-markets-wrap/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fell below $30,000 yesterday</a> for the first time since January as China intensified regulations on bitcoin mining and forced its largest financial institutions to block all of the digital asset’s transactions.&nbsp;



The New York-based firm, which offers eight ETFs in the US, added the Grayscale shares to its Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) and the Coinbase shares to the Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), according to Markets Insider.&nbsp;



ARKW now holds about 8.5 million shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust; it is the fund’s seventh largest holding at 4.1%, according to fund documents. Meanwhile, ARKK’s allocation to Coinbase is now at about 3.5%, making it the 10th-largest holding, as Coinbase shares in the fund have reached 3.6 million. The top holding in both ETFs is Tesla.



The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is the largest fund of its kind, currently holding more than 650,000 bitcoin, which equates to about $20 billion assets under management, according to <a href="https://bytetreeam.com/bitcoin-flows">ByteTree Asset Management data.</a> Coinbase, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-direct-listing-shares-are-limited-demand-is-high/">went public earlier this year</a>.



Cathie Wood, Ark’s CEO and founder, said last November at a virtual Barron’s conference that she believes <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-could-hit-500-000-according-to-ark-invests-catherine-wood-51605906264">bitcoin could hit $500,000</a> in the long-term. She noted at the time that such a price could be reached if institutions assigned a mid-single-digital allocation to bitcoin, like they did with real estate and emerging markets.&nbsp;



Paul Tudor Jones, founder and CIO of <a href="https://www.tudor.com/">Tudor Investment Corporation</a>, said earlier this month that bitcoin is a portfolio diversifier amid inflation concerns, noting that <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/paul-tudor-jones-likes-bitcoin-as-portfolio-diversifier/">he favors a 5% allocation</a> to the cryptocurrency.&nbsp;



Wood stuck with her $500,000 price prediction during an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek last month, but acknowledged Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s environmental concerns about bitcoin mining.&nbsp;



“Since the emergence of bitcoin, we have witnessed the rise of a global battle among monetary systems, both sovereign and non-sovereign,” the company’s <a href="https://ark-invest.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a> states. “ARK believes cryptocurrencies governed by neutral, open source networks have the potential to win this battle.”



If all S&amp;P 500 companies were to allocate 1% of their cash to bitcoin, its price could increase by about $40,000, according to <a href="https://research.ark-invest.com/hubfs/1_Download_Files_ARK-Invest/White_Papers/ARK%E2%80%93Invest_BigIdeas_2021.pdf">Ark’s Big Ideas 2021 report</a> published in January. Bitcoin’s network capitalization could rise to between $1 trillion and $5 trillion in the next five to 10 years, it adds.&nbsp;



Ark Invest did not immediately respond to Blockworks’ request for comment.