How Much Has Armstrong Sold — and Over What Period?
Coinbase shares fell 5.7% on Wednesday after data circulated by VanEck’s head of digital assets research, Matthew Sigel, showed that CEO Brian Armstrong has sold roughly $545.7 million worth of stock over the past nine months.
According to transaction history compiled from Bloomberg pricing data and shared by Sigel, Armstrong liquidated more than 1.5 million shares between April 2025 and January 2026. The largest single-day sale took place on June 25, 2025, when he disposed of 336,265 shares at $355.37 each.
Selling continued into the new year, including a 40,000-share transaction executed on Jan. 5 at $254.92 per share — the most recent sale listed in the data.
COIN closed Wednesday at $153.20, down from $162.52 the prior session. The stock has traded as high as $262 this year and sits within a 52-week range of $142.58 to $444.65.
Investor Takeaway
What’s Happening to Armstrong’s Net Worth?
The sales data surfaced alongside a Bloomberg report noting that Armstrong has fallen off the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His net worth has declined more than $10 billion from a July 2025 peak of $17.7 billion, according to the report.
Bloomberg said the bulk of Armstrong’s remaining $7.5 billion fortune remains tied to his 14% stake in Coinbase, the crypto exchange he co-founded in 2012.
The combination of declining share prices and insider selling has drawn attention as Coinbase approaches its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings release scheduled for Thursday.
Are Other Major Holders Reducing Exposure?
Armstrong is not the only prominent investor trimming exposure. On Feb. 5, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest sold $17.4 million worth of Coinbase shares across its exchange-traded funds. Over the same period, Ark allocated $17.8 million into Bullish, a competing digital asset exchange.
The sales come despite mixed analyst sentiment. On Jan. 5, Goldman Sachs upgraded Coinbase to a buy rating from neutral and set a $303 price target, citing growth in non-trading revenue as a buffer against market cycles.
In contrast, JPMorgan cut its price target by 27% on Tuesday, pointing to lower trading volumes, softness in crypto prices, and slowing stablecoin growth, according to Bloomberg.
Investor Takeaway
What’s Next for Coinbase?
The stock’s decline comes ahead of earnings, where investors will look for clarity on transaction revenue, subscription and services growth, and stablecoin-related income.
Even as shares slide, Coinbase continues to roll out new products. On Wednesday, the company introduced what it calls “Agentic Wallets,” a wallet infrastructure designed for autonomous AI agents. The product allows AI-driven systems to hold funds, send payments, trade tokens, earn yield, and transact onchain.
Whether product expansion can offset pressure from insider sales and softer trading conditions will likely become clearer after Thursday’s earnings report. For now, the combination of executive share disposals, analyst downgrades, and broader crypto market weakness is weighing on sentiment.
