Coinbase, MicroStrategy execs dump stock as Bitcoin buoys share prices

Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam has now sold more company stock than chief exec Brian Armstrong and prominent investor Marc Andreessen.

Coinbase insiders dumped over $223 million worth of company stock in the past month, as the crypto exchange’s share price staged a 36% recovery.

This brings the total value of Coinbase insider sales to $5.69 billion since its direct listing in April.

Coinbase and Paradigm co-founder Fred Ehrsam sold over $172 million in Coinbase stock since this time last month — equal to 77% of all sales in that period and more than any other insider.

Averaged out, Boston-born Ehrsam’s recent sales means he’s currently generating almost $6 million per day. He’s sold shares worth $416 million so far this year.

Now, Ehrsam has sold more Coinbase stock than chief exec Brian Armstrong and director Marc Andreessen, one titular half of the infamous Andreessen Horowitz.

These stock sales were made according to trading plans pre-lodged with the SEC.

Coinbase chief product officer Surojit Chatterjee cashed in $22.2 million worth of shares over the past month, while general counsel Paul Grewal sold $15.4 million.

Coinbase director and prominent early investor Fred Wilson has still offloaded more shares than any other insider ($1.8 billion himself and another $1.8 billion via his venture fund Union Squares).

However, Wilson hasn’t sold any Coinbase stock since the Delaware-headquartered firm’s initial listing, according to data collated by OpenInsider.

Coinbase previously defended its stock-dumping executives in a blog post, which compared its insider volumes to other notable tech companies that also went public via direct listing.

In direct listings, no new company shares are created. Instead, insiders provide the liquidity, so to some degree Coinbase’s initial sales are understandable.

Although, Protos calculated that Coinbase insiders sold $5.44 billion worth of company stock in the first 145 days after its direct listing.

Slack, Palantir, Roblox and Asana — the companies Coinbase highlighted — had altogether sold just $3.83 billion, meaning Coinbase insiders alone sold 40% more stock than execs at those firms combined.

Bitcoin helps Coinbase and MicroStrategy stock rebound

Execs at data intelligence unit MicroStrategy also cashed in stock in the past month.

The Virginia-headquartered company (which holds 114,041 BTC ($7.5 billion) thanks to Bitcoin-bull chief exec Michael Saylor) has seen $26.4 million in insider sales since this time in October.

Director Carl Rickertsen and chief financial officer Phong Le sold the most, $9.7 million and $8 million respectively.

In that time, MicroStrategy’s share price has risen 12.5%. Just like Coinbase, the company’s stock has been buoyed by Bitcoin’s recent upswings.

Sales were made according to pre-set trading plans with the SEC.

MicroStrategy’s recent insider stock sales are far smaller than those seen at Coinbase, but they’re noteworthy considering company executives took an eight-year hiatus from selling their shares.

Indeed, MicroStrategy execs have sold around $296.6 million in stock over the past decade, with nearly $198 million (66%) of that sold in the past year.

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