Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase Global Inc. COIN,
became the most valuable US stock exchange on Wednesday when it ended day trading at $ 328.28, valuing the company at nearly $ 86 billion on a diluted basis.
Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant, the third highest earner in the NBA, was one of the investors who just cashed in on the Coinbase IPO.
Through their investment firm Thirty Five Ventures, Durant and his business partner Rich Kleiman invested in Coinbase in 2017. At the time, Coinbase raised capital for their Series D funding. That financing completion brought, according to business reporter Joe Pompliano
The company, whose users mainly trade bitcoin BTCUSD,
and ethereum ETHUSD,
now has a valuation 53 times higher than when Durant invested, indicating a huge jump in the value of its investment.
It’s unclear how much Durant invested in Coinbase in 2017, but he has invested millions of dollars in the past, such as his $ 1 million investment in Postmates before the sale to Uber UBER,
in 2020. A $ 1 million investment in Coinbase in 2017 would be worth more than $ 53 million today.
Durant and Thirty Five Ventures have also invested in several startups, including financial services provider Acorns, esports organization Andbox, and alternative asset manager Alt.
Other notable investors who made money on Coinbase’s IPO were billionaire PayPal PYPL,
and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, libertarian hedge fund manager turned venture capitalist Dmitry Balyasny, Google GOOG,
GOOGL,
Ventures founder Bill Maris and political strategist and investor Bradley Tusk.
Shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global are up 1.4% Thursday, with some Wall Street analysts still saying Coinbase is a buy.
During Thursday afternoon trading, stock benchmarks such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
282 points, or 0.8%, the S&P 500 index SPX,
trades 42 points higher, gaining 1%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP,
is up 160 points, or 1.2%.