Coinbase Global, Inc. COIN Chief Executive

What Brian Armstrong says in public, and what their own SEC filings show they own.

Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong

CEO & Chairman · Coinbase Global, Inc.

Co-founded Coinbase in 2012. Prominent crypto advocate and vocal on regulatory issues.

@brian_armstrong
What they own

Ownership

Skin in the game
38/ 100
Level 2Aligned

Armstrong owns about 10% of Coinbase Global, Inc., worth $4.95B at the last close.

SEC filings
154
Stake 26.8M reported shares ≈ 10.2% of shares outstanding — no 13G on file, so an estimate 26/35
Founder No career file yet — the founder axis scores zero until one exists 0/15
Tenure Start date not on file — tenure scores zero until it is 0/10
Track record No career file yet — prior companies score zero until one exists 0/15
Direction No open-market buys or sales in the last year 5/15
Discipline 2 late Form 4s in 154 filings 7/10

Score = stake band (35) + founder (15) + tenure (10) + track record (15) + 12-month direction (−10…15) + filing discipline (10). Every input links to a filing or to the career file; the bands are ours.

Reported · Forms 3, 4, 5 26.8M Every lot on the person's own filings, as of Jul 16, 2025
Paper trail 2 late filings Form 4 covering a 2021-11-18 gift in Coinbase Global, Inc. was filed 2021-12-02, 9 business days later; Section 16 allows two.
Reported Coinbase Global, Inc. shares Forms 3, 4 and 5 · as of 2025-07-16
010M20M30M40M 20212022202320242025 26.8M
How the stake is held
SecurityHeld viaShares
Class B Common StockThe Brian Armstrong Living Trust22,881,225
Class B Common StockThe Ehrsam 2014 Irrevocable Trust2,958,393
Class B Common StockThe Ehrsam 2014 Irrevocable Trust(9)950,490
Class A Common StockThe Brian Armstrong Living Trust526
Reported as of 2025-07-1626,790,634
Held directly
0%
Vehicles
3 trusts or entities
Share classes
2
Last filing
Jul 17, 2025
Every issuer Brian Armstrong files as an insider of
CompanyRoleReportedBeneficial% of class
COIN Coinbase Global, Inc. This page Chairman and CEO 27M
2025-07-16		 — —

Reported is every lot on the person's own Forms 3, 4 and 5 — direct and through trusts. Beneficial is the figure stated on the latest Schedule 13D/G cover page, which can exclude shares the person disclaims and include options exercisable within 60 days, so the two are never added together.

Paper trail
  • Form 144 Form 144 filed 2025-11-10 announces an intended sale. Filing ↗
  • Form 144 Form 144 filed 2025-11-03 announces an intended sale. Filing ↗
  • Late Form 4 covering a 2021-11-18 gift in Coinbase Global, Inc. was filed 2021-12-02, 9 business days later; Section 16 allows two. Filing ↗
  • Late Form 4 covering a 2021-04-01 conversion of a derivative in Coinbase Global, Inc. was filed 2021-04-16, 11 business days later; Section 16 allows two. Filing ↗
  • Sale 2025-07: sold 600,000 Coinbase Global, Inc. shares for $236,520,524 via By The Brian Armstrong Living Trust, under a 10b5-1 plan (3 filings). Filing ↗
  • Sale 2025-06: sold 500,000 Coinbase Global, Inc. shares for $175,799,462 via By The Brian Armstrong Living Trust, under a 10b5-1 plan (3 filings). Filing ↗

154 filings under CIK 0001856705 · captured 2026-09-05 · All filings on EDGAR ↗

On the record with shareholders

Earnings calls

  1. Q2 2026 Jul 30, 2026 Armstrong spent his remarks arguing that Coinbase has stopped being a leveraged bet on the bitcoin price: 88% of net revenue now comes from something other than bitcoin spot trading, subscription and services was 48% of net revenue, and trading share hit an all-time high 10.3% in a quarter when spot market volume fell 25%. He confirmed the Circle agreement will auto-renew in August on unchanged terms, and put the next leg of the story on agentic finance — more AI agents than humans, none of whom can open a bank account, transacting in USDC on Base through x402. Pressed on whether machines that optimise for price would erode Coinbase's trust moat, he argued agents will pick infrastructure the way engineers pick a cloud vendor. He was equally relaxed about a stalled CLARITY Act — "business as usual for Coinbase" — and about rivals launching their own chains, which he expects to fragment and then consolidate the way stablecoins did. Read the call · 9 quotes →
In their own words

Podcasts, interviews & articles

10 recorded appearances

2026

2025

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