ARK Invest buys 220K Circle shares worth $14M amid sell-off

ARK Invest scooped up roughly 217,896 shares of Circle Internet Group on July 9, adding approximately $13.7 million worth of the stablecoin issuer’s stock to its portfolio. The purchase came as CRCL shares were trading near one-month lows.

The move is part of a pattern that’s becoming hard to ignore. ARK has been steadily accumulating Circle stock since the company listed on the NYSE on June 5, 2025, with an IPO price of $31 per share. The fund bought $16.3 million worth of shares back on March 24 this year, followed by another $5.5 million in May. This latest purchase brings the 2026 total to north of $35 million in CRCL alone.

Selling Robinhood to buy the stablecoin giant

Here’s the thing about this trade: it wasn’t just a buy. ARK simultaneously sold 85,319 shares of Robinhood for around $9.8 million. That’s a deliberate rebalancing, moving capital from a retail trading platform toward the company behind the second-largest stablecoin in existence.

Circle’s stock closed near $63 in mid-July, roughly double its IPO price from just over a year ago.

Why Circle, and why now

To understand ARK’s thesis here, you need to understand what Circle actually is. The company issues USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin that currently has approximately $73 billion worth of tokens in circulation. That makes it the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, trailing only Tether’s USDT.

Circle holds reserves backing USDC in US Treasuries and cash equivalents, earning yield on those holdings. When interest rates are elevated, that’s a very profitable business to be in.

The timing of ARK’s accumulation also coincides with growing regulatory clarity around stablecoins in the US. For a company like Circle that has positioned itself as the compliance-first alternative to Tether, clearer rules are a competitive advantage. More regulation in this space tends to benefit incumbents who already play by the rules.

What this means for investors

The Robinhood-to-Circle rotation reflects a broader shift in how ARK is thinking about digital finance exposure. Rather than betting on platforms that let people trade crypto, ARK is increasingly betting on the infrastructure layer itself.

That said, Circle’s stock is not without risk. The company’s revenue is heavily tied to interest rates, since yield on USDC reserves is a primary income driver. If the Fed cuts rates aggressively, Circle’s margins compress. There’s also competitive pressure from Tether, which dominates the stablecoin market.

ARK has now spent over $35 million on Circle stock in 2026 alone, while actively trimming positions elsewhere, making a concentrated bet on the stablecoin infrastructure layer.