What ARK Invest is
Founded in 2014 by Cathie Wood and headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, ARK Investment Management is an asset management firm specialised in "disruptive innovation": artificial intelligence, robotics, genomics, fintech and digital assets. It is known for its actively managed ETFs (the most famous being ARKK), for its annual public research "Big Ideas" and for positions heavily exposed to Tesla, Coinbase and the crypto sector. In January 2024 it was among the first authorised issuers of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States with the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB). On 16 October 2026, however, 21Shares terminated its sub-advisory and marketing agreement with ARK, effective 22 December 2026: from 15 December the fund is expected to be called 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, with the ticker TBIT (Verified: October 2026). It is not an exchange: you do not open an account with ARK; in the European Union its UCITS ETFs are accessed through a bank or broker.
Regulation and licences
- ARK Investment Management LLC is an investment adviser registered with the US SEC; ARK ETFs are listed on US exchanges and subject to SEC rules (Verified: September 2026).
- ARKB (ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF): spot Bitcoin ETF approved by the SEC in January 2024, sponsored by 21Shares US LLC with ARK as sub-adviser and marketing partner; in June 2025 it carried out a 3-for-1 share split and since 27 August 2026 it uses the FTSE Bitcoin Index as its reference index. On 16 October 2026 21Shares notified ARK of the termination of the agreement, effective 22 December 2026; from 15 December the fund is expected to be called 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ticker TBIT) (Verified: October 2026, SEC filing).
- Europe: with the acquisition of London-based Rize ETF (September 2023), renamed ARK Invest Europe, the firm issues UCITS ETFs distributed in the EU — the first active ones (ARKK, ARKG, ARKI in their European versions) were launched in April 2024 (Verified: September 2026).
- MiCA does not apply: ARK does not provide crypto-asset services to the public, it offers traditional financial instruments with crypto underlyings.
Security
ARK does not hold clients' cryptocurrencies in custody: exposure to Bitcoin runs through the ARKB ETF, whose bitcoin are held by a regulated third-party custodian named in SEC filings. No breach or custody incident appears publicly. The historical risk for investors has been market risk, not operational risk: the flagship ARKK fund suffered a very deep drawdown in 2021-2022, followed by a strong recovery; in 2025 ARK ETFs outperformed the S&P 500 (Verified: September 2026).
Alternatives
FAQ
Can ARK's ETFs be bought in the European Union? Yes, but not the ETFs listed only in the US: for the EU market there are ARK Invest Europe's UCITS ETFs (born from the acquisition of Rize ETF), which can be bought through banks and brokers that distribute them in the EU.
What is ARKB? It is the spot Bitcoin ETF launched by 21Shares with ARK and approved by the SEC in January 2024: it tracks the price of Bitcoin by holding real BTC with a regulated custodian, without the investor having to manage wallets or keys. From 22 December 2026 ARK will no longer have a role in the fund, which is expected to be called 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, with the ticker TBIT (Verified: October 2026).
Is ARK Invest a cryptocurrency exchange? No: it is an asset management company. It does not offer trading accounts or cryptocurrency custody to the public.
Verified sources
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1869699/000121390026111688/ea0309236-8k_ark21share
- https://www.ark-invest.com/ark-invest-has-acquired-rize-etf
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1869699/000121390025050167/ea024438301ex99-1_ark21
- https://etfexpress.com/2024/04/18/ark-invest-europe-launches-three-etfs-arkk-arkg-and-arki
- https://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/26/01/50055701/cathie-wood-has-13-big-id
