Top managers of Coinbase sold shares for $1.2 billion

Co-founders of the Bitcoin exchange Coinbase Brian Armstrong and Fred Ersam, as well as its top managers Emily Choi and SurojitChatterjee sold $1.2 billion worth of shares between the IPO and February this year. Calculations were carried out in the Wall Street Journal.

Journalists analyzed reporting for the SEC.The largest share of sales fell on the first day of trading. Market entry was carried out through a direct listing, which directly involves the sale of shares by its founders and team.

The securities were sold in the range from $189 to $422. The opening price on the day of the IPO was $381. On May 26, trading in Coinbase shares ended at $69.87.

“Coinbase executives maintain large stakes in securities, reflecting their commitment to our long-term capabilities,”— said a Coinbase representative.

Brian Armstrong holds 59.5% of the voting shares. It generated $292 million during the period under review. Emily Choi and Surojit Chatterjee sold $226 million and $110 million in shares, respectively.

Fred Ehrsam, who left Coinbase, became almost $0.5 billion richer. On behalf of the venture capital company Paradigm, which he headed, he subsequently acquired Coinbase shares worth $75 million.

Since the beginning of the year, the securities of the bitcoin exchange have fallen in price by 72.3%, since the IPO - by 81.7%.

Recall that in the first quarter, Coinbase's net loss was $1.98 per share, which was almost twice as high as analysts' expectations.

In May, the media became aware of the cost optimization of the cryptocurrency exchange after a weak start to the year.

Coinbase later became the first cryptocurrency company to be included in the Fortune 500 list.

Armstrong and Ersam are among the 400 richest US billionaires according to Forbes for 2021.