Institutions Buy Crypto Stocks as Bitcoin Falls

ARK Invest purchased about $77 million of crypto-related stocks in June, adding roughly $44 million of Coinbase, $25.25 million of Circle and $8.2 million of Bullish during a month when Bitcoin posted its worst performance in four years. On June 25 the firm also added 35,023 Robinhood shares worth about $3.27 million.

The fund’s trades reflect a preference for regulated, publicly traded companies as a way to gain exposure to the digital-asset cycle rather than holding coins directly.

An analysis of daily price data through July 2 found that 30-day annualized realized volatility for nine U.S.-listed crypto stocks ranged from about 68% to 90%, compared with Bitcoin’s 37.6% over the same window. On a 90-day basis Circle’s realized volatility reached about 103.6%, while Bitcoin’s 90-day reading was near 37.8%.

Several firms registered larger declines from their 2026 highs than Bitcoin did. Circle was about 51.4% below its peak, MicroStrategy 48.6% and Bullish 43.6%, compared with Bitcoin’s roughly 36.4% pullback from its January peak.

Correlation and beta measures over the past 90 trading days show that stock moves were not explained solely by Bitcoin. Circle, Robinhood and Bullish had correlations to Bitcoin in the roughly 0.55–0.58 range, implying Bitcoin’s daily swings accounted for about one-third of those stocks’ day-to-day moves. MicroStrategy had a beta near 1.59 and a correlation around 0.85, indicating its shares moved more than one-for-one with Bitcoin. Coinbase had a beta near 1.26 and a correlation around 0.75; the stock was down about 26.8% year-to-date compared with Bitcoin’s 29.5% decline.

Robinhood’s stock was roughly flat for the year at about -0.3% and recorded a smaller drawdown than most crypto-focused names, as crypto revenue is one part of a broader brokerage and derivatives business. That diversification coincided with a shallower decline from 2026 highs.

Mining companies showed a different pattern. Riot, Marathon and CleanSpark gained 74.5%, 38.1% and 24.7% respectively year-to-date while Bitcoin fell about 29.5%. Those gains were linked to miners signing hosting contracts for high-performance computing and to sales of Bitcoin reserves. Miners’ betas remained above 1, so they continued to move with Bitcoin on a daily basis even as annual returns were affected by non-crypto revenue.

MicroStrategy’s balance sheet metrics changed in late June when its multiple of net asset value, or mNAV, fell below 1, meaning the company’s enterprise value was lower than the market value of its Bitcoin holdings. MicroStrategy reported holding about 847,363 BTC as of June 22 and had a market capitalization near $29.5 billion at the end of June. The company announced a share buyback program and authorized up to $1.25 billion of Bitcoin sales to support cash needs for preferred dividends and interest expenses.

ARK’s June purchases were made while many crypto stocks traded well below mid-2025 valuations. The price, volatility and correlation data show variation across names: some equities moved closely with Bitcoin, while others experienced large company-specific swings or gains tied to non-crypto businesses.