ARK Invest Expands Bullish Holdings
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest continued to increase its stake in the crypto exchange Bullish on Monday, acquiring approximately 238,000 shares valued at around $12 million across its various flagship funds. The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) was the largest purchaser, buying 164,214 shares, followed by the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) with 49,056 shares, and the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) with 25,076 shares, according to ARK’s daily trade disclosures.
This latest investment follows a series of purchases made by ARK Invest last week. On Friday, the firm acquired over $5 million worth of Bullish shares distributed among its ETFs. ARK has been consistently accumulating Bullish shares since the exchange’s $1.1 billion debut on the New York Stock Exchange, at which time it initially purchased approximately $172 million worth of shares across its funds.
Bullish Records High Volume Following Options Platform Launch
The recent buying activity by ARK Invest coincides with Bullish reporting significant trading volume. The exchange recorded over $82 million in trading volume within the first five days of launching its new crypto options platform. This innovative product allows customers to utilize their entire portfolio as collateral across spot, futures, and options markets, thereby enhancing capital efficiency for traders.
The launch of the options platform saw participation from several key institutional partners, including FalconX Global, Wintermute, and BlockTech. Bullish expressed their commitment to addressing existing challenges in crypto options trading through their new product. "We’ve built a product that aims to resolve the pain points that exist today in trading crypto options," the exchange stated on X on Monday.
Bullish shares concluded Monday's trading session at $50.26, marking a slight decrease of 0.71%. After-hours trading indicated a minor dip to $50.02.
Bullish Expands Operations to 20 US States
In a significant regulatory achievement, Bullish officially launched its services in 20 US states last month. This expansion followed the successful acquisition of its BitLicense and money transmission license from the New York State Department of Financial Services, a crucial step for any cryptocurrency firm operating within the US.
Bullish commenced its operations with the support of two major institutional clients: BitGo and Nonco. Since its founding in 2021, Bullish has processed over $1.5 trillion in global trading volume and has established itself as one of the top 10 exchanges based on Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) activity.