CoreWeave co-founders have sold $3.3 billion in stock since the IPO
The three founders of the former Ethereum miner turned AI cloud provider have cashed out heavily, with $2.4 billion of sales coming in 2026 alone
CoreWeave’s three co-founders have sold $3.3 billion worth of company shares since the AI cloud provider went public last year, according to Bloomberg.
The pace has picked up recently. Approximately $2.4 billion of that total changed hands in 2026 alone, which suggests the founders are selling faster, not slower.
CoreWeave’s stock has fallen more than 60% from its peak, amid growing investor unease about AI infrastructure spending and credit risk.
How the sales stacked up
CoreWeave listed on March 28, 2025, pricing its shares at $40 under the ticker CRWV. It was one of the biggest IPOs of 2025.
CoreWeave’s lockup ended in August 2025. The selling started soon after, and the remainder of the post-IPO total came in 2025 before the heavier 2026 run.
Most of the sales were executed through 10b5-1 trading plans. These are prearranged schedules that let insiders sell stock on autopilot at set times or prices.
The stated goal of the sales is liquidity and diversification. Even after all that selling, the three still hold substantial stakes. Their combined ownership sits at around 18% of the company.
The post-IPO sales also were not the founders’ first payday. Before the listing, they made private sales worth $488 million between 2023 and 2024.
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A wild ride for the stock
After debuting at $40, the stock climbed 359% to a peak in June 2025.
The comedown has been steep. Shares have since dropped more than 60% from that June 2025 high.
The decline reflects a broader cooling in investor appetite. Questions about how much money is pouring into AI infrastructure, and how much debt is financing it, have weighed on sentiment.
Short seller Jim Chanos, known for betting against companies he views as overvalued, pointed to the unusually high volume of insider transactions.
From Ethereum mining to AI cloud
CoreWeave’s origin story has a genuine crypto chapter. The company began in 2017 as Atlantic Crypto, an operation built to mine Ethereum.
Mining required racks of powerful graphics processing units, or GPUs. These are the same chips that later became the backbone of AI computing.
Then the 2018 crypto downturn hit. Mining economics soured, and the company changed course.
Instead of using its GPUs to mine tokens, it began renting out GPU cloud infrastructure for AI workloads. It rebranded and completed that pivot by 2019.
What this means for investors
The use of 10b5-1 plans also adds a layer of structure. These sales were scheduled in advance rather than timed on a whim.
Still, scale and timing shape how the market reads these moves. Selling $3.3 billion since the IPO, with $2.4 billion in 2026, while the stock trades far below its peak, invites scrutiny whether or not it is deserved.
The roughly 18% combined ownership is the counterweight worth noting. The founders still have meaningful skin in the game, which aligns at least part of their fortunes with outside shareholders.