Coinbase Global executives and directors recently adopted trading plans to sell more than $900 million of shares of the crypto-trading platform.
Three Coinbase executives and two directors will sell as many as five million shares. Based on Friday’s closing price of $182.88, that totals $909 million.
Shares of Coinbase slid over 2% premarket.
Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s co-founder, chairman, and CEO, adopted a so-called Rule 10b5-1 plan on Aug. 15 for the potential sale of up to 3,750,000 shares of class A common stock issuable upon the conversion of shares of the Class B common stock owned by The Brian Armstrong Living Trust, of which Armstrong is trustee.
Class B shares each carry 20 votes, while Class A shares each carry one vote. Class B shares don’t trade publicly, and are convertible into an equal number of Nasdaq-listed Class A shares to facilitate a sale.
Company insiders adopt such plans to remove the appearance of bias from the knowledge of nonpublic information. Plans automatically execute trades when certain conditions, including price, volume, and timing, are met.
Coinbase disclosed the adoption of the trading plans on Oct. 30 in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Armstrong’s plan has an estimated start date of Nov. 18 and ends Nov. 14, 2025, at the latest.
Coinbase didn’t make Armstrong or any other of its officers available for comment. The company pointed to comments on insider stock sales from Coinbase Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas on the fourth-quarter earnings conference call on Feb. 15. “[A]ll of our insiders…have shared long-term conviction in Coinbase,” Haas said. “It’s important to note that these sales account for a small portion of insiders’ total holdings in Coinbase.”
Armstrong last sold Coinbase stock on Sept. 12, when a previous plan converted 15,375 Class B shares to the same number of Class A shares, and sold an equal number of Class A shares for $2.5 million, an average price of $161.28 each.
As of March 31, Armstrong controlled 52% of Coinbase’s voting power through his majority stake in the supervoting Class B shares.
Haas, Coinbase’s financial chief, adopted a plan on Aug. 29 to sell as many as 153,896 Class A shares owned by Haas and ACB 2021 LLC, of which Haas is sole member. The plan also provides for the sale of enough Class A shares to cover costs associated with the exercise of stock options owned by Haas for up to 686,873 shares of class A common stock and Class B common stock. The plan has an estimated start date of Jan. 2, 2025, and end date of Dec. 31, 2025.
Frederick Ernest Ehrsam III, a Coinbase co-founder and director, adopted a plan Aug. 25 to sell as many as 866,122 Class A shares upon the conversion of Class B shares owned by The Frederick Ernest Ehrsam III Living Trust, of which Ehrsam is trustee. The plan has an estimated start date of Nov. 25, 2024 and end date of May 27, 2025. Ehrsam is also co-founder and general partner of crypto-focused investment firm Paradigm, which didn’t respond to a request to make Ehrsam available for comment on his Coinbase trading plan.
Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer and secretary, adopted a plan Aug. 28 to sell as many as 151,005 Class A shares he owns, including upon the vesting and settlement of restricted stock units for Class A shares, and the exercise of vested stock options. The plan has an estimated start date of Dec. 2 and end date of Dec. 2, 2025.
Coinbase director Fred Wilson adopted a plan Aug. 8 to sell as many as 50,000 Class A shares owned by The Fred and Joanne Wilson 2012 Delaware Trust, of which Wilson’s spouse is grantor. The plan has an estimated start date of Nov. 7, 2024 and end date of Nov. 4, 2026. Venture-capital firm Union Square Ventures, which Wilson serves as partner, didn’t respond to a request to make him available for comment.
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