Coinbase CEO Sold $291.8M Worth of Shares On Exchange Debut

Coinbase CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong sold $291.8 million worth of his shares on the first day of trading, new filings show.

Millions Of Coinbase Shares Sold On Debut

Filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that the Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sold about 749,999 shares on the first trading day of the cryptocurrency exchange on Nasdaq.

The report reveals that Armstrong sold three different groups of shares at varied prices of $381 to $410.40.

The total shares sold by Armstrong are less than 2% of his total holdings in the company.

However, other Coinbase investors, shareholders, and employees sold a total of $5 billion worth of shares on the first trading day.

Meanwhile, a separate SEC filing revealed that Coinbase director and venture capitalist Fred Wilson sold more than 4.70 million shares worth $1.82 billion, thereby surpassing Armstrong’s own.

Although the report does not reflect the total stakes of Wilson in Coinbase, Wilson reportedly owns not less than 10% of the shares of Coinbase, which boasts a $63.6 billion market cap.

At the same time, Union Square Venture, a VC firm led by Wilson, also sold 4.70 million shares from its accumulated 2012 funds, according to another filing.

This implies that the funds sold by Wilson and his firm amounted to two-thirds of the total $5 billion worth of shares traded on the company’s Nasdaq debut.

Multiple filings show that a software engineer, venture capitalist, Marc Andreessen, and his VC firm Andreessen Horowitz plus two other associated entities sold about 1.18million shares for $449.2 million.

Given that Coinbase’s direct listing was anchored on insiders selling their stocks, interested investors were only able to buy sold shares.

Coinbase Set To Bring Crypto Into Mainstream Finance

The leading US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is more likely to grow bigger given its recent direct listing, further enabling outsiders to buy the company’s shares.

With the direct listing already in progress, there is a general feeling that the crypto industry would gain higher recognition since the company’s stock is available for trading on Nasdaq.

However, the fact that the cryptocurrency exchange was the first US company to go public has made many crypto enthusiasts say that cryptocurrencies may enter mainstream finance.

Earlier, Coinbase reported its Q1 revenue showing that the company had 56 million verified users with a huge revenue base of $1.8 billion.

Also, the giant crypto exchange had entered a partnership with companies like Fidelity investment, Square, and others to create the Crypto Council for Innovation, a group that seeks support for the crypto industry.