ARK Rotates $40M Out of Coinbase, Doubles Down on Bullish in Aggressive Rebalance

The Receipt

ARK Invest executed a decisive rotation away from its longtime favorite Coinbase (COIN) late last week, offloading nearly $40 million in shares while aggressively accumulating exposure to institutional exchange Bullish (BLSH). According to daily trade notifications, the firm sold a combined 253,708 COIN shares across Thursday and Friday, valued at approximately $39.5 million, marking its first sustained selling streak of the stock in 2026.

The capital was immediately recycled into Bullish, the Peter Thiel-backed venue that listed on the NYSE in August 2025. ARK purchased 1.1 million BLSH shares over the same 48-hour window, deploying roughly $28.5 million as the stock hovered near all-time lows.

The Divergence

The timing aligns with a sharp dislocation in crypto equities. Coinbase shares slid 13% on Thursday to $146.12 before staging a relief rally to $165.12 (+13%) on Friday, tracking Bitcoin’s bounce from $60,000. Despite the recovery, COIN remains down roughly 27% year-to-date.

Bullish, meanwhile, has been a falling knife since its public debut. Trading around $27.45, the stock has shed over 60% of its value from its IPO pricing. ARK’s move appears to be a high-conviction bet on a mean reversion; the firm is effectively swapping a liquid, retail-heavy incumbent for a battered institutional infrastructure play.

Institutional Context

The rotation comes days after Bullish released preliminary Q4 2025 results. While the exchange reported a staggering $563 million net loss, revenue jumped nearly 70% year-over-year to $92.5 million, beating analyst estimates. Market makers seem to be pricing in execution risk, but Cathie Wood’s team is clearly buying the revenue growth narrative over the current bottom line.

“We focus on serving institutions, and we are winning a wave of institutional business in the U.S. and globally,” Bullish CEO Tom Farley noted in the earnings call, signaling a pivot toward asset tokenization.

For market participants, the signal is specific: ARK is not exiting crypto volatility. It is concentrating it. By trimming the sector’s bellwether (Coinbase) to bid on a distressed newcomer (Bullish), the fund is repositioning for a market phase where institutional order flow, rather than retail speculation, drives the next leg of value.