Cathie Wood's Ark Invest sells $51.7 million worth of Circle shares as stock hits new high

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest sold 342,658 shares of Circle Internet Group Inc., worth about $51.7 million, across three of its exchange-traded funds on Monday, as Circle's stock price reached a new high.

The firm's latest trading filing showed that the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) offloaded 196,367 Circle shares today, while its ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) sold 92,310 Circle shares. The ARK Fintech innovation ETF (ARKF) also shed 53,981 shares of the stablecoin issuer.

Circle's stock, traded under ticker CRCL, surged to an intraday high of $165.6 before easing, ultimately ending Monday up 13.1% at a record $151.06 — nearly five times its IPO price of $31, according to Yahoo Finance data .

Ark's latest move to trim its holdings of CRCL follows its purchase of $373.4 million worth of Circle shares during the company's New York Stock Exchange debut earlier this month. The stablecoin issuer had a blockbuster $1.1 billion IPO .

Circle's USDC is the second-largest stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, only behind Tether’s USDT. Investor enthusiasm for stablecoins continues to gain momentum, fueled in part by the advancement of the GENIUS Act — a key piece of legislation set for a final Senate vote this Tuesday.

Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, said that stablecoins have yet to reach their "iPhone moment," but he expects it to happen "soon."

"[We] are not quite yet at the iPhone moment when developers everywhere realize the power and opportunity of programmable digital dollars on the Internet in the same way they saw the unlock of programmable mobile devices. Soon," Allaire said on X over the weekend.