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Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase Global Inc.
COIN,
became the most valuable U.S. exchange on Wednesday as it ended the 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 company Thirty Five Ventures, Durant and his business partner Rich Kleiman invested in Coinbase back in 2017. At the time, Coinbase was securing capital for their Series D funding. That funding rounding raised over $100 million at a valuation of $1.6 billion, according to business reporter Joe Pompliano.
The company, whose users primarily deal in bitcoin
BTCUSD,
and ethereum
ETHUSD,
now has a valuation that is 53 times higher than it was when Durant invested, signaling a massive jump in the value of his investment.
It’s unclear how much Durant invested in Coinbase back in 2017, but he has made million-dollar investments in the past, such as his $1 million investment in Postmates before its sale to Uber
UBER,
in 2020. A $1 million investment in Coinbase in 2017 would be worth over $53 million today.
Durant and Thirty Five Ventures have also invested in several startups including financial services company Acorns, esports organization Andbox, and alternative asset management company Alt.
Other notable investors who cashed in on the Coinbase 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% on Thursday, and a few Wall Street analysts still say Coinbase is a buy.
In Thursday afternoon trading, stock benchmarks like the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
gained 282 points, or 0.8%, the S&P 500 index
SPX,
is trading 42 points higher, a gain of 1%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
is up 160 points, or 1.2%.
