An exchange-traded funds (ETFs) managing company, ARK announced an investment in publicly traded shares of Barry Silbert's Bitcoin Investment Trust. This is the first time an ETF on a U.S. exchange has invested in bitcoin.

ARK purchased BIT's shares for the ARK Web x.0 ETF calling bitcoin a disruptive and quickly growing innovation. According to the company’s statement, ARK has been investing in disruptive innovations for more than thirty years.

“We're believers in bitcoin, the currency, and Bitcoin, the technology platform. We also believe that current prices present an attractive entry point for our investors,” said ARK's Founder and Chief Investment Officer Cathie Wood.

ARK has also invested in Facebook, Amazon, LinkedIn, and Netflix. The BIT, however, comprises only 0.3% of ARK ETF's overall holdings. Grayscale was the first company to issue shares that are publicly quoted securities deriving value from the price of bitcoin.

In March 2015, Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT) received the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority approval to create the first publicly traded bitcoin fund on the American market. In June, the trading started on the OTC Markets, with one share representing ownership of approximately 0.1 bitcoin. Immediately after the start of trading in bitcoin, the share price went up to $175. In August, Grayscale appointed Xapo as Custodian for the Bitcoin Investment Trust assets. Currently, according to OTC Markets, the price is $29.99.

As CoinFox wrote earlier this week, during the first half of September, almost $50 million were invested into cryptocurrency start-ups. Venture capitalists have not lost their interest in cryptocurrencies. Out of six cryptocurrency companies that received investments in the first half of September, three (ShapeShift, Case and Abra) are more focused on bitcoin as a currency and the other three (Chain, Chronicled and Coinalytics) are working with the blockchain.

Aliona Chapel