ARK Invest buys $13M of Robinhood as treasury uses platform

ARK Invest purchased $13 million of Robinhood Markets shares in recent trades, increasing the asset manager’s stake in the retail brokerage. The transactions were disclosed as recent purchases and add to ARK’s holdings in publicly traded fintech and trading companies.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury selected Robinhood’s brokerage platform to maintain one or more accounts linked to former President Donald J. Trump. Treasury officials have not disclosed which accounts are on the platform, the dollar amounts involved, or whether the accounts are personal, campaign-related or tied to other entities.

Robinhood Markets operates a retail trading app and web platform that allows customers to trade stocks, options and exchange-traded funds. The firm reports account and trading metrics publicly and serves millions of individual investors through mobile and web access.

ARK Invest is an asset manager known for exchange-traded funds that focus on technology and innovation. The firm has targeted growth-oriented companies in its portfolios and has increased exposure to brokerages and other fintech firms through recent purchases.

The Treasury provided limited public detail about its operational arrangements and recordkeeping for accounts placed on a private brokerage platform. The department oversees agreements with financial service providers through internal controls and legal reviews.

Further specifics about the timing and size of ARK’s trades and the precise nature of the accounts the Treasury placed with Robinhood will be available in regulatory filings or in statements from the firms or the Treasury.