Coinbase's CEO will get a $3 billion windfall as the company goes public

As the Cryptocurrency market is booming worldwide, Coinbase sees a significant surge in popularity. It is currently the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world. Amid the plans of going public has brought great fortunes to CEO Brian Armstrong. He will be receiving a potential $3 billion windfall from the exchange's direct listing in the stock market.

According to a Bloomberg report, his stake in the company is worth $15 billion. According to registration documents, in 2020, Armstrong cashed out $56 million of stock option awards on top of a $1 million salary and another $1.8 million in reimbursement for legal and security fees.

Coinbase is favored for its simplified interface, but it lacks a few popular altcoins. Binance, which is the largest exchange globally, is ahead of Coinbase in terms of both volumes of exchange and trading pairs. But going public will bring a new growth opportunity for Coinbase.

"We believe the performance conditions associated with the 2020 CEO Performance Award are extremely rigorous and appropriately align Mr. Armstrong's incentives with the interests of our stockholders. His options fully vest at a roughly 1,600% price increase," Coinbase said in its filing.

Coinbase will be listed on the exchanges within a few weeks when outside investors will value the company's shares for the first time. Luckily the crypto market is in a bull run for now, which may help Coinbase gain a significantly higher stock value. According to Axios, Coinbase sold several tranches of stock totaling 1.8 million shares, going for as high as $303 each - a nearly 1200% increase from the option strike price.