Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Buys $1.5M in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Shares

Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management bought 176,945 shares ($1.5 million) in Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) on Monday as the crypto market slumped to a two-year low.

The purchase comes as GBTC shares trade at a record 45% discount to their net asset value, with negative sentiment continuing to spread following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

Read more: ‘Grayscale Discount’ Widens to Record 43% as FTX Contagion Spreads

Ark purchased 315,259 GBTC shares worth $2.8 million last week as it continues to double down in the bear market. The investment firm now holds 6.4 million GBTC shares worth $53 million.

The discount narrowed over the course of the day on Tuesday, and the shares were recently trading at 42.6% below their NAV.

FTX's collapse and subsequent bankruptcy filing has caused a domino effect across the crypto industry. BlockFi, Wintermute, MultiCoin and Genesis Global Trading are among the crypto firms that have significant exposure to the defunct exchange.

Both Genesis and BlockFi, a crypto lender, halted customer withdrawals in the days following FTX's collapse as liquidity dried up.

Genesis and Grayscale are both owned by Digital Currency Group, which is also CoinDesk's parent company.

Bitcoin, the asset that underlies the Grayscale fund, fell to a two-year low of $15,480 on Monday as fresh fears emerged about the financial health of Genesis. The cryptocurrency, however, clawed back to close to $16,000 on Tuesday.

Read more: Cathie Woods’ ARK Buys 238K More Shares in Coinbase Exchange Amid Crypto Rout