Alexis Ohanian used $50 million in crypto windfall to buy Serena Williams’ 17-carat engagement ring

Business

Of Thomas Barrabi

February 23, 2023 | 12:41 p.m

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian netted $50 million from an early cryptocurrency play that helped him seal his love match with tennis legend Serena Williams.

Ohanian, 39, revealed in an interview with Forbes that he used some of the proceeds to buy a $3 million 17-carat engagement ring when he proposed to Williams in December 2016.

Williams, who won a record 23 major singles titles before retiring last year, married the tech entrepreneur in 2017.

Ohanian said he made $50 million through an early investment in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and by buying up ether, a leading cryptocurrency token that ranks just behind bitcoin in popularity.

Ohanian told the outlet that he learned about the token during his early meetings with Coinbase executives in 2014.

He invested $15,000 to buy 50,000 ether. Today, a single Ether token is worth around $1,651, meaning Ohanian’s original stake would be worth nearly $83 million.

“In retrospect, I didn’t invest nearly as much as I should have,” Ohanian told Forbes.

After Coinbase went public in 2021, Ohanian used $26 million in equity proceeds to launch his venture firm 776, which focuses on blockchain and other technology-centric investments. The firm has more than $750 million in assets under management, according to its website.

He also donated $1 million to former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s nonprofit “Know Your Rights.”

Ohanian also told Forbes a humorous story about his first date with Williams, which almost went awry after the superstar athlete tried to access Reddit. At the time, the social media platform did not have a mobile app.

“She asked me what I did. I said I started and run this company called Reddit. She pretended she knew about it but she didn’t. She goes to her phone and searches the app store and she’s like ‘how do you spell that?” and I’m like ‘REDDIT.’ I’m sweating because I have to try to explain to her that we don’t have an app,” Ohanian said.

“I thought, I haven’t heard of that. And there is no app? It must not be real,” Williams added.

In 2019, Forbes estimated that Ohanian has a net worth of $70 million. As of last August, the outlet estimated Williams’ net worth at $260 million.

Coinbase’s stock has plunged more than 82% since the company went public. The cryptocurrency firm carried out layoffs last year as an economic downturn and the fallout from FTX’s bankruptcy rocked the entire industry.

As of Thursday, the company had a market value of nearly $14 billion, with shares trading above $60.