Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Sold $292M Worth Of Shares On First Trading Day

A week after Coinbase Global Inc COIN’s public debut on the Nasdaq, reports have emerged of the crypto exchange’s top executives selling a considerable amount of shares on the first day of trading.

What Happened: According to an SEC filing, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sold $291.8 million worth of his shares.

As per the filings, Coinbase investors, shareholders, and employees sold a total of $5 billion worth of shares – although venture capital firm Union Square Venture’s accounted for more than 65% of this amount.

lolol wtf pic.twitter.com/ezZx5F8ua9

— Dereck Coatney (@DereckCoatney) April 17, 2021

Why It Matters: Unlike a typical IPO, where new shares are issued to the public and insiders have a lock-up period to prevent them from selling, the whole purpose behind Coinbase’s direct listing was that these insiders sold their shares to the public.

Essentially, they have to make their shares available for sale in order for the listing to be successful.

Those unfamiliar with the details of a direct listing criticized Coinbase executives for “dumping their shares” on the first day of trading.

“In a direct listing, you need sellers otherwise there is no liquidity. So ridiculous that people are grasping at straws to throw shade at the Coinbase team,” commented Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer at Coinshares.

Brian Armstrong sold 749,999 shares on the day of the listing, which amounts to less than 2% of his total holdings.

Other Coinbase executives like CFO Alesia Haas sold 15% of her total stake, and COO Emilie Choi sold 24% of her holdings.