Coinbase CEO Sell-Only? Sold All Shares in 88 Transactions, No Record of Buying

Jan. 8: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong commented, “It feels good to buy Coinbase stock on the Coinbase platform (at least that’s what people tell me) — unfortunately, as a Section 16 officer, I can only trade via a 10b5-1 plan, but I imagine that feeling must be great.” Some users viewed the remark as positive promotion of Coinbase’s products and stock. However, the community later reviewed publicly disclosed insider trading filings and found Armstrong has never purchased any COIN stock through his 10b5-1 plan. As of now: - **Buys: 0** - **Sells: 88** All transactions were sales, with no buy records on file. His selling activity spanned multiple quarters in 2024–2025, including: - Q4 2024: ~$437 million in a single quarter - Q2 2025: ~$196 million - Q3 2025: ~$268 million - Systematic sales in nearly every quarter While 10b5-1 plan trading is regulatory compliant (often used by executives for pre-arranged liquidity), the “long-term zero buys, consistent high-frequency sells” pattern sparked crypto community debates about management confidence and incentive alignment. As of press time, Coinbase’s stock has dropped 45% over the past six months.