On May 29, the Coinbase representative disclosed that their four senior executives still have significant holdings in the exchange, proving “their commitment to long-term potential.”
After going public earlier this year, co-founders Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, President and Chief Operating Officer Emilie Choi, and Chief Product Officer Surojit Chatterjee have collectively earned about $1.2 billion in stock sales profits.
According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of regulatory records, this was around the time that the San Francisco-based company’s shares fell by 80%. The four top Coinbase executives allegedly sold their shares at prices ranging from $189 to $422. Coinbase’s starting price on its first day of trading was $381. The stock is now trading at about $75.32 at the time of writing.
The same WSJ analysis reports that Armstrong and his living trust sold shares for a total of $292 million. The co-founder holds a dominant stake in the exchange, with little more than 59 percent of voting power. During the same time period, Ehrsam made around $500 million in stock sales. When the price dropped to new lows earlier this month, the co-founder allegedly purchased $75 million in shares on behalf of his investment business, Paradigm One LP.
On the other hand, Choi sold shares for a total of $226 million while exercising options for $9.7 million. Meanwhile, Chatterjee sold for $110 million in proceeds while exercising $6 million in options.
Coinbase struggled to meet expectations following weak first-quarter earnings, and things deteriorated amid a crypto-wide collapse. According to the Fortune report, Coinbase was able to “thrive under the odd circumstances of COVID,” as the platform generated more than $7.8 billion in revenue in fiscal 2021. Fortune placed it at 437th among the largest US companies.
