It has been more than two years since Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss filed plans for an exchange traded fund backed by holdings of bitcoin. That ETF has yet to come to market, but a previously existing ETF has added bitcoin to its holdings.
ARK Investment Management LLC, the New York-based issuer of four actively managed ETFs, said Tuesday investors can now access bitcoin through the ARK Web x.0 ETF ARKW. That makes ARKW the first ETF to invest in bitcoin.
“ARK has made its investment for ARK Web x.0 ETF through the purchase of publicly traded shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC,” according to a statement issued by ARK Investment Management.
Related Link: Did Barclays Start The Bitcoin Bull Run?
ARKW, which celebrates its first anniversary at the end of this month, is managed by ARK founder and Chief Investment Officer Cathie Wood. The ETF can hold 40 to 50 companies that are legitimately wear the “disruptive” and “game-changing” labels. ARKW currently holds 40 stocks, including Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Netflix, Inc. NFLX, Facebook Inc FB and Apple Inc. AAPL, according to issuer data.
“ARK believes that bitcoin, a digital currency, could disrupt the $500 billion intermediary payment platform industry which includes credit cards, electronic payments and remittances, and might empower the creation of a new group of companies and industries,” said ARK in the statement.
Bitcoin burst onto the scene in 2007 and today is the most recognizable of the digital or cryptocurrencies. Unlike traditional currencies, such as dollars, pounds or yen, bitcoin is not created by a central bank, but is created by people.
ARK’s investment in publicly traded shares of the Bitcoin Investment Trust will be valued each day at 4:00 p.m. ET at their then current daily market price, according to the statement. The Bitcoin Investment Trust is ARKW's smallest holding at just under a third of the ETF's weight, according to issuer data.
One bitcoin is currently equivalent to just over $231, according to Coinbase data, indicating that the value of the digital currency has been cut in half over the past 12 months. However, Coinbase data also indicate the number of daily transactions involving bitcoin has also more than doubled over that period.
ARKW charges 0.95 percent per year, or $95 per $10,000 invested.
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