coinquora.com
Cryptocurrencies have plummeted this year as investors flee riskier assets due to increasing interest rates and inflation. Investors in Coinbase have been hit much more. Bitcoin had lost 22% of its value in May, whereas Coinbase had lost about 40%.
Since the crypto exchange’s public IPO last 2021, four senior Coinbase Global Inc. executives have made well over $1 billion by selling stock, despite the company’s stock plummeting by over than 80%.
In detail, a Wall Street Journal study of regulatory documents shows that Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, as well as President Emilie Choi and Chief Product Officer Surojit Chatterjee, made $1.2 billion through stock transactions since the day the San Francisco-based firm went public.
The documents showed that Armstrong and his revocable trust sold stock for a total of $292 million. However, he still has a majority position in the corporation, with 59.5% voting power. Choi spent $9.7 million on option exercises and sold stocks for a total of $226 million in revenues, while Chatterjee spent $6 million on option exercises and sold stocks for a total of $110 million in profits.
During that time, Ehrsam made over $500 million in stock transactions. He acquired $75 million worth of stock in favor of Paradigm One LP, the crypto trading business he co-founded, when the price fell to new lows earlier this month.
Because all four companies sold stock in Coinbase’s direct listing, a large portion of the shares were sold on the first day of trade. An initial public offering (IPO) is a way for companies to raise capital by selling off a part of their stock. For direct listings to succeed, the firm must make such sales since it normally does not sell any shares, unlike going public.