Coinbase CEO Follows Through With Stock Sale, COIN Investors Unfazed

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has started selling his exchange’s stock, according to a Wednesday SEC filing, following through with a pledge the crypto entrepreneur made last year to fund scientific research. 

Yesterday’s SEC filing shows that Armstrong sold over $1.6 million in common stock—a tiny sliver of the $2.5 billion he owns, roughly 18% of shares. 

Back in October, Armstrong said that he was planning to donate money to projects aiming to extend human life. 

At the time, the boss of America’s biggest digital asset exchange said he was  “passionate about accelerating science and tech to help solve some of the biggest challenges in the world”—and planned to sell 2% of his stock. 

Coinbase told Decrypt in an email: “As Brian disclosed on Twitter, he plans to sell about 2% of his Coinbase holdings over the next year to fund scientific research,” adding that this sale timing was “unrelated to recent market events.”

Investors don’t seem too fazed by the news: Coinbase equity, which trades on the Nasdaq under COIN, is up today 0.45%, trading for $54.13 per share on Thursday afternoon.

But the price has dipped since last Friday by 6.7%. 

Coinbase went public in 2021. Since then, COIN has soared to $342 per share in April 2021 after the company started trading on the Nasdaq—83% higher than today.

The San Francisco-based company has said it wants to expand overseas by accelerating its “Go Broad, Go Deep” strategy to grow its presence on every continent.