Kevin Durant’s long-dormant Coinbase account containing bitcoin has finally been recovered after he lost the password nearly a decade ago.
The story of Durant being locked out of his Coinbase account has made a media splash, and even more so now that he has finally recovered it. But there might be a few holes in the hyped-up tale. According to Coinbase, when someone is locked out of an account they have a verification process that is relatively quick. Identity verification may take 10 minutes to 48 hours, states the company’s website. On top of this, in 2021, Durant came on board as a brand partner for Coinbase and has worked with the tech company in various aspects. It would seem he would have an inside to recovering his account even faster than most. But here’s the story of Durant not being able to access his account.
Locked Out?
Durant first bought bitcoin in 2016, shortly after joining the Golden State Warriors.
The investment came after attending a birthday dinner for Durant hosted by venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, which his teammates also attended, according to Business Insider.
To put that in perspective, Durant signed a $54 million, two-year contract with the Warriors in 2016, while bitcoin traded between $400 and $1,000.
Durant reportedly bought in around $600 per coin.
As of now, bitcoin sits at an all-time high, hovering near $117,000 per coin, an almost 200-fold increase since the all-star’s initial purchase.
It’s unclear exactly how much he invested, but considering Durant’s agent, Rich Kleiman, made a big fuss over regaining access and recounted how they got started, it’s safe to assume the holdings were substantial.
“I just heard the word ‘bitcoin’ 25 times this evening, and the next day, we started investing in Bitcoin,” Kleiman said at CNBC’s Game Plan conference, according to CryptoNews.
For years, Durant and Kleiman struggled to access the account.
“We’ve yet to be able to track down his Coinbase account info, so we’ve never sold anything, and his bitcoin is just through the roof,” Kleiman told Business Insider. He called the lockout “a user error on our end,” adding that “the process has been clear from the jump”
He also joked, “It’s just a process we haven’t been able to figure out, but bitcoin keeps going up … it’s only benefited us.”
Durant and Kleiman’s interest in digital assets extends beyond personal investing.
Since 2017, their venture firm, Thirty Five Ventures, has invested in Coinbase, helping the company grow while gaining exposure to the cryptocurrency market.
In 2021, Durant became a brand partner for Coinbase, creating digital assets content for his sports and entertainment site, Boardroom, and helping educate fans on the opportunities within crypto.
As Finurah previously reported, Durant has had an interest in fintech and educating the Black community in it for some time now, having an alliance with Gabrielle Union and Marshawn Lynch in leading a $15 million Series A investment into Kinly, an inclusive fintech neobank focused on serving the underbanked Black community.
Kinly targets Black millennial women, ages 26–41, making up 70 percent of its 22,000 beta users and over 300,000 on the waitlist during Finurah’s June 2022 reporting.
