Coinbase CEO and Co-Founder, Brian Armstrong sold shares of the company the day before the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against the exchange for alleged violations of securities law. The transaction caused a bit of a stir in the Twitter cryptoverse, as Armstrong avoided a heavy loss.
SEC filings show that Armstrong sold 29,730 shares of the company on June 5, the day before the SEC’s lawsuit was filed. Coinbase stock price plunged on the day of the lawsuit, with an initial contraction of 20%.
Armstrong has been selling Coinbase shares regularly since mid-November. Ha done operations under a 10b5-1 plan adopted in August, which determines in advance the date and size of the transactions.
CoinBase CEO Brian Armstrong dumped 29,730 shares on June 5th, just a day before the SEC lawsuit was made public, and shares tanked 20%.
This should be illegal. ♂ï¸
—WhaleWire (@WhaleWire) June 8, 2023
If you compare Coinbase’s share price with the dates of Armstrong’s trades, you see that his trades were not always profitable. Therefore, the transaction could have been completed before Armstrong learned of the SEC action. The SEC, on the other hand, could have known of Armstrong’s trading algorithm.
Armstrong had reportedly lost 11.8% of his net worth the day after the SEC action against Coinbase, bringing his personal wealth to $2.2 billion. Armstrong has been classified by Forbes as the 1,409th richest person in the world.
Dataroma Statistics show that, among company executives, only board members Tobias Lutke and Fred Ehrsam have bought Coinbase shares in the past year. Armstrong and Ehrsam were defendants in a lawsuit filed by a Coinbase shareholder in May alleging that they and other Coinbase funders sold shares in a public offering in April 2021 before negative financial information and subsequently the share price were disclosed. fell 37%.
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