Why Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Cannot Buy COIN On His Own Platform App

• Coinbase CEO said his personal trading of Coinbase stock (COIN) is heavily restricted and monitored as a Section 16 officer under U.S. securities law.
• On Monday, Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) closed at $254.92, up 7.77%. pre-market, the stock rose 0.18%.
• Users could buy Coinbase stock, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, prediction markets, and perpetual futures in mid-December.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on Monday that he cannot buy Coinbase stock on the Coinbase app, citing restrictions under U.S. securities law that apply to corporate insiders.

Armstrong said on X that while “buying Coinbase through Coinbase feels good,” he is unable to do so himself because he is a Section 16 officer under U.S. securities law. The comment came as a response to a post by Nick, who shared that it “blew his mind” that users could directly invest in stocks through Coinbase.

Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act applies to an SEC reporting company’s directors, officers, and shareholders owning more than 10% of a public company’s equity, subjecting their trades to strict disclosure and timing rules.

As a result, Armstrong’s personal trading of Coinbase Global stock (COIN) is subject to heightened restrictions and disclosure requirements. He noted in the X post that his transactions must be conducted through a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, which limits when trades can occur and removes executive discretion to prevent insider trading.

Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) closed at $254.92, soaring up by 7.77% on Monday. In pre-market hours, the stock was up 0.18%.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Coinbase improved from ‘neutral’ to ‘bullish’ territory over the weekend, while chatter levels increased from ‘normal’ to ‘high’ over the past day. The increase in sentiment follows Goldman Sachs’s upgrade of the stock to ‘buy’ on Monday.

Coinbase Expanded Trading Access 

Armstrong’s comments follow a mid-December system update in which Coinbase broadened its platform beyond crypto trading to include a wider set of financial products. 

The company said that users were eligible to trade tokenized equities, including Coinbase Global stock (COIN), alongside cryptocurrencies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), prediction markets, and perpetual futures within a single app.

Read also: Telegram’s Access To $500 Million In Debt Curtailed By Russia Sanctions: Report

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