Brian Armstrong, Coinbase CEO, joined the club of the world’s richest people after crypto asset trading company Coinbase took the floor on the stock exchange with a valuation of over US $ 100 billion.
Instantly, Armstrong became an instant mega-billionaire thanks to his 40 million shares valued at US $ 16 billion by the market.
Armstrong founded Coinbase in 2012. Coinbase helps users buy, sell, and store crypto assets, such as bitcoin and ethereum.
His company is gaining popularity along with the increasing public interest in crypto assets. Especially bitcoin, which soared during the pandemic.
Coinbase Users: 35 Million in 100 Countries
Launching CNN Business, Coinbase claims to have more than 35 million customers in more than 100 countries. Funds under management reached US $ 25 billion in assets and US $ 320 billion in traded volume.
Even so, Armstrong was not as well known as his company. This 38-year-old man previously worked at Airbnb for a year in early 2011 as a software designer.
Prior to that, he was the CEO and founder of UniversityTutor.com, an online tutoring site for nearly a decade.
Armstrong received a master’s degree in computer science at Rice University, Houston, Texas. Although he rarely speaks in public, he is active on Twitter.
If Coinbase’s IPO meets expectations, Armstrong will enter Bloomberg’s list of the 250 richest people.
For information, at the closing of its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday (14/4), Coinbase’s valuation reached US $ 112 billion.
Coinbase’s debut on the stock market through live listing. As a result, no shares were sold prior to the opening.
The IPO Action as a Historical Point of Cryptocurrency
Quoting from Reuters, this corporate action marks another milestone in the development of bitcoin and digital assets. The IPO was held at a time when the value of crypto money skyrocketed as it started to get the support of big companies.
Coinbase shares opened at US $ 381 per share, up 52.4 percent from the reference price of US $ 250 per share set on Tuesday.
Although only 10.9 percent above the median price of US $ 343.58 when Coinbase was privately traded in the first quarter of 2021.
Shares closed at US $ 328.28, which diluted Coinbase’s valuation to US $ 85.78 billion. In comparison, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, the Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a market capitalization of about US $ 66 billion.