ARK Invest, run by star stock picker Cathie Wood, has filed paperwork with US regulators to create a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) amid a rapid expansion in the crypto market.
The move follows vocal support of Bitcoin by Wood, who said earlier this year that she expected the price of the digital currency to hit US$500,000 despite its recent downturn.
READ: Billions in Bitcoin locked up in trusts, ETPs and corporate treasuries
Wood’s flagship ARK Innovation fund also holds over US$800mln worth of shares in crypto trading platform Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN), enough to make the company the fund's tenth-largest holding.
The application by ARK for a Bitcoin ETF also follows similar moves by other funds to be the first to receive approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list a crypto-linked ETF on the US market.
READ: Bitcoin price will hit US$500,000, says Ark Investment’s Cathie Wood
The drive to secure a US crypto ETF listing comes amid a growing presence of institutional cash in the digital currency market, with research earlier this month revealing that Bitcoin close-ended trusts and exchange-traded products (ETPs) currently hold around US$43.2bn worth of the digital currency.
ARK’s filing also comes amid the ongoing recovery in Bitcoin prices following a recent slump due to a Chinese crackdown on digital currencies.
In early trading in London on Tuesday, Bitcoin was up 0.3% in the last 24 hours at US$35,091.