Coinbase Insiders Sold Billions In Equity After $COIN Direct Listing

Coinbase insiders sold billions in equity after the $COIN direct listing as executives succeeded to make themselves a fortune so let’s read more in today’s Coinbase news.

Coinbase insiders reportedly sold billions in equity after the direct listing of the coin while the filings indicated that first that multiple executives sold a high percentage of their stakes in the company. It seems that one representative stated that the sellers maintain a strong ownership position and the data from Capital Market Laboratories and the filings from the exchange’s Investor Relations website, shows a total of 21,965,079 shares were sold to the insiders that are now worth over $4.6 billion at COIN’s $344 per share.

this is making the rounds and is so misleading – details matter!

each of these execs have tons of unvested options that account for the majority of their holdings – in reality they’ve each sold less than 10% of their total shares https://t.co/LP4uKK1Nuq

— Meltem Demirors (@Melt_Dem) April 17, 2021

Some of the most notable transactions include Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas that sold 255,000 shares at a price of$388 while CEO Brian Armstrong sold 749,999 shares in three transactions at various prices netted him a total of $291,827,966. According to Form 4 disclosure, right after the sale, Armstrong retained 300,001 shares worth over $1 billion and in the filing before the direct listing, it was reported to have 36,851,833 shares that indicated he sold over 2% of his stake in the company.

The data didn’t indicate that the directors or insiders purchased more shares but they only sold them. The sales could be seen on the OpenInsider SEC Form 4 screener. One representative for Coinbase said that the percentage equity share of each executive isn’t accurately reported by the reporting services and that the sales represent a fraction of the executive and insider ownership.

The reports prompted amusement on social media with many likening the sales to a “classic” pump and dump scheme where the insiders and team members, duped tokens into retail liquidity after a listing. Early investors and executives wanted to cash it but there are a few handfuls of major buyers. Hedge fund manager Cathie Wood placed a big bet on the exchange and purchased over $350 million in shares for three different ETFs. Also, like many Coinbase employees having a stake in the company, 1700 Coinbase staff were gifted 100 shares as a “thank you” from the company.

lolol wtf pic.twitter.com/ezZx5F8ua9

— Dereck Coatney (@DereckCoatney) April 17, 2021

The exchange also embroiled in a string of negative headlines that were related to the CEO of the company that handled a new policy that focused on political and social issues at work. Armstrong insisted that the company has to remain “mission-focused” and that the mission is to become the leading global brand for “helping people convert digital currency into and out of their local currency.”