Amidst regulatory tussle, an SEC disclosure revealed an expensive bill for Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s security benefits.

The exec was granted security benefits of $6.3 million last year, representing more than triple the amount his security cost Coinbase the previous year.

• According to the public document, Armstrong’s total compensation for the whole of 2022 was $7.5 million, and received a flat salary of $1 million, while the remaining can be characterized as security and legal costs. The base salary was the same for the previous two years as well.
• Moreover, a huge chunk of the Coinbase CEO’s wealth comes from his holdings and sales of the company stock.
• Armstrong received nearly $57 million in option awards as well, besides making a profit after Coinbase went public. He still holds 39 million shares in the company, which is currently worth around $2.4 billion if sold.
• The CEO’s compensation for 2022 was up by almost 134% since the previous year. His subordinates, including COO Emilie Choi, CFO Alesia Haas, CPO Surojit Chatterjee, and CLO Paul Grewal, also witnessed a considerable appreciation in their total compensation for the year.
• In fact, all the five top executives of the San Francisco-based exchange giant receive nearly $1 million in cash salary.
• The development emerges just a week after Coinbase reported a fifth consecutive quarter of losses. The company posted $79 million in losses while its total revenue plunged to $772.5 million, representing a decline of 37% from the $1.1 billion in revenue for Q1 2022.
• Coinbase’s stock also took a beating as a result of tremendous regulatory pressure in the United States.