Ark Invest bought more than $500 million worth of SpaceX shares on IPO day

Markets Ark Invest bought more than $500 million worth of SpaceX shares on IPO day The purchases were likely funded by selling other positions, data shows. ARK is also one of the loudest bitcoin bulls, with a million-dollar target for 2030. By Shaurya Malwa | Edited by Sheldon Reback Updated Jun 15, 2026, 8:13 a.m. Published Jun 15, 2026, 7:52 a.m. 2 min read Make preferred on Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Make preferred on Cathie Wood's Ark Invest bought $500 million worth of SpaceX stock. (CoinDesk archives) Summary Show ARK Invest built a stake of nearly 3.3 million SpaceX shares worth more than $500 million on the day of the company’s record-setting IPO. Cathie Wood’s firm sold more than $325 million of stock across at least 13 companies in the days around the listing. ARK’s shift of risk capital from crypto toward high-growth names like SpaceX, alongside its $2.5 trillion base-case valuation target for the company by 2030, underscores how institutional investors are favoring AI and space IPOs over digital assets in the near term. ARK Invest bought nearly 3.3 million shares of SpaceX (SPCX) as Elon Musk's company went public in the largest IPO ever on Friday, building a stake worth more than $500 million by the end of the day. The shares, priced at $135 for the sale , closed at $160.95, rising more than 19.2% on their first day. The Cathie Wood-owned firm liquidated almost $280 million of stock in the week before the listing, then sold another roughly 948,000 shares across 13 companies worth at least $48 million on Friday, including Advanced Micro Devices, Roku and Baidu, according to daily emailed statements over the period. The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) did the bulk of the buying, ending the day with SpaceX at 3.28% of its portfolio. A first-day pop of almost 20% on the largest IPO in history signals institutions are paying up for high-beta innovation risk again. While bitcoin is the highest-beta asset in the group, the hottest trade in the market is now a wave of AI and space listings, with OpenAI and Anthropic also filing to go public. There is a finite amount of risk capital, and when even a bitcoin bull like Wood is rotating toward it rather than adding to crypto, it's a sign that funds are likely to continue being sucked out of the crypto markets in the near term. An ARK model targets a $2.5 trillion enterprise value for SpaceX in 2030, with a bull case near $3.1 trillion, built off the company's $350 billion private valuation in 2024. ARK also runs a spot bitcoin ETF, and Wood has been among the most vocal institutional bitcoin bulls, with long-term price targets running into seven figures . Institutional Investors SpaceX Latest Crypto News 1 Bitcoin traders have a reason to watch Tuesday's BOJ rate decision. Yen shorts are at a nine-year high 1 hour ago 2 Live markets: Bitcoin not fully out of danger as Trump warns of further Iran strikes 2 hours ago 3 XRP climbs 4% above $1.18 as traders test next resistance zone 3 hours ago 4 Bitcoin hits a two-week high above $65,500 as the US-Iran deal sends oil sliding 4 hours ago 5 Bitcoin shoots higher on Iran peace deal, with Strait of Hormuz set to open 8 hours ago 6 Bitcoin could crash to $48,000, if this historical pattern is triggered 12 hours ago 7 Summer of crypto (regs): State of Crypto 13 hours ago 8 Aerodrome is turning liquidity into a prediction market with its biggest upgrade yet 17 hours ago 9 SEC's big swing to clear tokenization path isn't likely to get resilience of full rule 18 hours ago 10 Wall Street and crypto are crashing into each other as tokenized treasury markets hit $14.6 billion 19 hours ago Latest Research The Incentive Dynamic Engine: A New Era for io.net Tokenomics The Incentive Dynamic Engine: A New Era for io.net Tokenomics io.net's IDE ties token burns to real GPU demand, replacing fixed emissions with a demand-linked model - live as of 11 June 2026. By CoinDesk Research Jun 12, 2026 Commissioned by io.net io.net's IDE ties token burns to real GPU demand, replacing fixed emissions with a demand-linked model - live as of 11 June 2026. Why it matters : io.net's IDE ties token burns to real GPU demand, replacing fixed emissions with a demand-linked model - live as of 11 June 2026. View Full Report More From Markets Bitcoin traders have a reason to watch Tuesday's BOJ rate decision. Yen shorts are at a nine-year high XRP climbs 4% above $1.18 as traders test next resistance zone Bitcoin hits a two-week high above $65,500 as the US-Iran deal sends oil sliding