A Coinbase spokesperson asserted that the four top leaders maintain large positions in the exchange, demonstrating “their commitment to the long-term opportunities.”
Co-founders Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, President and COO Emilie Choi and Chief Product Officer Surojit Chatterjee jointly raised approximately $1.2 billion in proceeds from stock sales following their earlier IPO This year.
Coinbase officials Pocket Over $1 billion
As per a Wall Street Journal’s analysis of regulatory filings, this was around the same period when the San Francisco-based company’s shares witnessed an 80% decline. The four top Coinbase leaders reportedly sold the shares at prices anywhere between $189 to $422. On its first day of trading, Coinbase’s opening price was $381. At the time of this writing, the stock is trading at around $75.
WSJ revealed that Armstrong and his living trust sold shares for total proceeds of $292 million. With just over 59% of the voting rights, the co-founder continues to hold a dominant stake in the exchange. Its counterpart, Ehrsam, made about $500 million in stock sales during the period. The co-founder reportedly bought $75 million worth of stock at the behest of his investment firm, Paradigm One LP, when the stock fell to significant lows earlier this month.
On the other hand, Choi sold shares for total proceeds of $226 million while exercising options at $9.7 million. Meanwhile, Chatterjee sold proceeds of $110 million while exercising options for $6 million.
Fortune 500 Foray
Since its IPO, Coinbase has forged strategic partnerships by getting a foothold in sports marketing from the NBA to the ESL. However, the crash in the crypto market caused its Q1 revenue to be half of the previous quarter’s sum. Simultaneously, the monthly trading volume of users also decreased significantly at the same time. Despite this, Coinbase became the first crypto company to be included in the Fortune 500 list earlier this week.
After disappointing first-quarter results, Coinbase struggled to meet expectations, and things worsened amidst a crypto-wide rout. But as the Fortune report noted – Coinbase managed to “thrive under the freakish circumstances of COVID” as the platform had recorded over $7.8 billion in revenue in fiscal 2021. It was ranked 437th on Fortune’s list of the biggest US companies.
