Coinbase CEO Restores Kevin Durant’s Lost Bitcoin Account After 10 Years

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has confirmed that NBA star Kevin Durant has regained access to a Bitcoin account he opened almost 10 years ago, ending speculation that it was permanently locked.

Durant first entered the market in late 2016, when Bitcoin traded around $650. Today, with Bitcoin hovering near $117,000, his early holdings have grown roughly 180 times in value. Over the past five years alone, Bitcoin has surged more than 950%, turning modest investments into multimillion-dollar assets.

The account issue came to light during CNBC’s Game Plan conference in Los Angeles, when Durant’s business partner Rich Kleiman revealed that he had been unable to log in for years. Hours later, Armstrong addressed the matter directly on social media, confirming that the recovery process was complete.

Durant’s ties to Coinbase go beyond being a customer. In 2017, his firm 35V invested in Coinbase, and in 2021, a marketing agreement made him one of the exchange’s public ambassadors. Despite these close links, he had been unable to access the Bitcoin purchased years earlier.

The numbers put the recovery into perspective: a $10,000 investment in 2016 would now be worth $1.8 million. Even a single Bitcoin bought back then is now worth over $116,000. As Durant prepares for the upcoming NBA season with the Houston Rockets, he has finally regained direct control of assets acquired nearly a decade ago.