CoinDesk
Cathie Wood's Ark Invest deployed more than $75 million into crypto-related equities during June, loading up on Coinbase, Circle Internet and Bullish as all three slid sharply through the month. The buys were disclosed via the firm's regular emailed trade reports.
The breakdown: $44 million into Coinbase (COIN), $25.25 million into Circle Internet (CRCL), the issuer of stablecoin USDC, and $8.2 million into Bullish (BLSH), the parent of CoinDesk. All three transactions were priced at the closing levels of the trading days on which they cleared.
The purchases landed directly into a drawdown. Circle shares slumped roughly 40% across June, closing the month at $62.63, with an 18% single-session drop on June 30 after competitor stablecoin Open USD went live, backed by more than 140 firms including Coinbase, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard and BlackRock. Coinbase ended June just under 20% lower at $146.19, while Bullish fell 27% to $23.43.
Why it matters
Ark has a long-running habit of adding to crypto equities on dislocations, treating sharp selloffs in listed crypto infrastructure as accumulation windows rather than risk signals. The June episode is the cleanest version of that playbook in 2026: a $75M+ deployment across three distinct themes (exchange, stablecoin, exchange/news) in a single month, all into names the broader tape was actively de-rating.
The Open USD launch on June 30 is the marginal driver. A consortium-backed stablecoin entering circulation through payment-rail incumbents reshapes the competitive setup for USDC, and Ark's CRCL addition while CRCL was already down 40% reads as a bet that the selloff over-corrected rather than as a vote of confidence in Circle's near-term pricing power.
Market impact
The structural read matters more than the dollar size. Ark's willingness to scale into COIN, CRCL and BLSH simultaneously, with Coinbase and Circle already bleeding and Bullish down more than a quarter, keeps a high-profile bid under three names with public-stock float that index and active managers track.
Frequently asked questions
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How much did Ark Invest spend on crypto stocks in June?
More than $75 million in total, split across Coinbase ($44M), Circle Internet ($25.25M) and Bullish ($8.2M), disclosed via Ark's regular emailed trade reports.
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Why did Circle (CRCL) drop sharply in June?
Circle shares slumped roughly 40% across June, closing at $62.63, with an 18% single-session drop on June 30 after competitor stablecoin Open USD launched, backed by more than 140 firms including Coinbase, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard and BlackRock.
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What is Ark Invest's typical strategy during crypto selloffs?
Ark has a long-running habit of adding to crypto equities on dislocations, treating sharp selloffs in listed crypto infrastructure as accumulation windows rather than risk signals.
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What are COIN, CRCL and BLSH?
COIN is Coinbase, the largest US-listed crypto exchange. CRCL is Circle Internet, issuer of the USDC stablecoin. BLSH is Bullish, a crypto exchange and the parent company of CoinDesk.
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What does the Open USD launch mean for Circle?
Open USD is a rival stablecoin backed by more than 140 firms across payments and finance. Its June 30 debut is the marginal driver of CRCL's late-June weakness and reshapes the competitive setup for USDC.
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