Your guide to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Web 3.0

by Arthur · March 15, 2023

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has raised $16 million for a new fund, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. The ARK Crypto Revolutions Fund, registered in the US and the Cayman Islands, is a private placement, meaning it will not be available to the general public.

Private placements are usually sold to a small group of friends and family, accredited investors or institutional clients. The firm said in the filing that it began raising money on March 1 and has so far sold $7 million in the United States and $9 million in the Cayman Islands as of March 15.

Ark Invest did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.

The new fund is yet another sign that the Florida-based investment manager remains bullish on Bitcoin and crypto markets. Her Ark Innovation exchange-traded fund (ETF) withdrew nearly $400 million on Friday, according to Bloombergthe biggest increase since April 2021 and comes as the financial sector was rocked by the bank crash.

Crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank announced it was winding down voluntarily last week, and Silicon Valley Bank, which counted hundreds of tech startups as clients, was shut down by regulators on Friday. On Sunday, Signature Bank—then the only remaining crypto-friendly bank with an instant settlement network for digital payments—was forced to shut down by the New York Department of Financial Services.

Wood has been vocal in calling out what she sees as regulators’ misplaced focus on the risks of blockchain technology and crypto markets as questions about the stability of the financial sector arise.

“While the U.S. banking system clamped down in response to bank runs that threatened regional banks, Bitcoin, Ethereum and other crypto networks didn’t skip a beat,” Wood wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “Instability in the banking system threatened stablecoins, the on-ramps of DeFi, in stark contrast to the regulator’s rhetoric.”

Wood herself, a longtime advocate of Bitcoin, said she sees it as insurance during an interview in February.

“There is hyperinflation all over the world as their currencies have fallen apart,” Wood said Yahoo Finance last month. “These populations need a fallback — an insurance policy like Bitcoin.”

Since the beginning of the year, the company has bought nearly $20 million worth of Coinbase stock and now owns 5.14% of the company’s stock, according to SEC filings.