ARK's Cathie Wood Bought $100K Worth of Bitcoin Years Ago at $250 and Has Never Sold It

The founder and CEO of ARK Investment Management said she made the purchase after reading the Satoshi white paper.

By Michael Bellusci

Oct 24, 2022 at 9:10 p.m. UTC

Updated Oct 25, 2022 at 4:12 p.m. UTC

Ark's Cathie Wood — Ark Invest CEO Cathie Woods (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Michael Bellusci

Michael Bellusci is CoinDesk's crypto reporter focused on public companies and digital asset firms.

Follow @mikeybellusci on Twitter

Appearing on Peter McCormack's "What Bitcoin Did" podcast, ARK Investment Management CEO Cathie Wood said she purchased $100,000 worth of bitcoin (BTC) when it was trading around $250 (which would suggest sometime in 2015). She said she hasn't sold any of that initial investment, meaning her current profit on that $100,000 bet would be around $7.6 million.

Wood, whose firm she co-founded is focused on innovative and disruptive investments, said that while she was able to make that personal bet on bitcoin, she couldn't do the same in the ARK funds themselves as they were and are only allowed to invest in securities.

ARK eventually was able to get bitcoin exposure via the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). The ARK Next Generation Internet Fund (ARKW) currently holds about 5.9 million shares of GBTC valued at roughly $67.4 million.

Wood continues to be bullish on bitcoin, and sees the Grayscale Trust – currently selling at about a 35% discount to net asset value – as trading at a "fire sale" price given the chance that at some point it will be cleared to convert into a spot exchange-traded fund (if regulators allow).

Grayscale is owned by CoinDesk parent company Digital Currency Group.

DISCLOSURE

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.