Coinbase CEO Armstrong’s fortune shrinks as COIN posts quarterly loss and filings show $500m stock sales

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 12, 2026, 14:00 PST

• Coinbase recorded a fourth-quarter loss, with trading volumes dropping during the wider crypto selloff.
• Filings indicate CEO Brian Armstrong has sold in excess of $500 million worth of Coinbase stock during the past nine months.
• Armstrong is no longer on Bloomberg’s top-500 rich list after his fortune tumbled over $10 billion from its mid-2025 high.

Coinbase swung to a loss for the fourth quarter, taking a hit as slumping digital-asset markets dragged down trading volumes and sliced transaction revenue. Still, the stock edged up roughly 1% in after-hours trading following the release. 1

Coinbase’s figures carry weight: the platform is a key gauge for U.S. crypto trading. Trading volumes tend to swell or shrink as prices shift. If the market cools and prices slide, exchanges usually see fee revenues slip too.

The setback has hit close to home for Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. His fortune has tumbled by over 50% since July, and he’s now dropped off Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index of the world’s 500 wealthiest, Bloomberg reported. 2

On top of that, fresh reports highlight a consistent run of stock sales by Armstrong himself, ramping up concerns for investors tracking both governance signals and overall mood on the stock. 3

Armstrong has unloaded over 1.5 million shares of Coinbase since April 2025, with proceeds reaching roughly $545.7 million over 88 trades, regulatory filings indicate. The data, referenced in a recent report, comes from Form 4, the mandatory U.S. disclosure for insider stock transactions. 4

Coinbase reported a drop in transaction revenue, coming in at $982.7 million for the quarter—down from $1.56 billion a year ago. Consumer transaction revenue took a hit of more than 45%. On the flip side, subscription and services revenue picked up 13.5% to $727.4 million. Stablecoin revenue played a big part, jumping to $364.1 million.

The company, in its latest shareholder update, highlighted a push to grow revenue beyond core trading. “The Everything Exchange is working,” Armstrong said, pointing to rising subscriptions and a broader footprint outside spot crypto trading. “We executed consistently against our goals,” CFO Alesia Haas said. 5

It’s not just Coinbase feeling the sting. Forbes Daily pointed out losses among crypto’s top fortunes as both token prices and crypto-tied stocks retreated. 6

Trading desks are facing a softer environment, analysts say. Tanay Ved, senior researcher over at Coin Metrics, put Coinbase’s Q4 spot trading volume around $256 billion—a 12% drop from the previous quarter, once October’s burst of volatility tapered off. 7

Coinbase wants to pull ahead as competition over crypto flows heats up, with retail-centric platforms and offshore exchanges still grabbing the lion’s share of global trading. To ease its dependence on spot trading fees, the company has been rolling out fresh products — “prediction markets,” derivatives, and more.

Still, the road ahead looks messy. Crypto prices stuck in the doldrums and low volatility—those trends keep eating into trading revenue, even with Coinbase rolling out new products. There’s also the chance regulators clamp down further, especially on fresh areas like prediction markets or equity-like products. One more thing: ongoing insider selling, planned or not, tends to hit sentiment quickly.