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Cryptocurrency wallet and exchange services provider became the first unicorn in the bitcoin industry, after completing its new fundraising round.
Coinbase has announced in its blog post that it raised $100 million in a Series D funding round, led by venture capital company IVP. Other investors in the round included Greylock Partners, Spark Capital, Battery Ventures, Draper Associates and Section 32.
“This represents a major milestone for our mission to create an open financial system for the world,” said Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong.
The San Francisco-based company is now estimated at $1.6 billion, what makes it the first bitcoin startup to get a status of a unicorn, or a company with a valuation of $1 billion or more.
Since the startup launch in 2012, it has raised a total of $217 million. Previously, the startup obtained $117 million from the New York Stock Exchange, BBVA, USAA, Andreessen Horowitz, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and other investors.
IVP, meantime, is one of the top venture capital companies in the US. Established in 1980, it has already invested in more than 300 companies, 106 of which have gone public. They include Dropbox, Slack, Netflix, Twitter, and Snap.
As Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote in a blog post, the funds will be used for the company’s further development. It is going to improve its customer experience by expanding its engineering and customer support teams. Besides, it plans to use money for the development Toshi, its browser based on the Ethereum network. The company also wants to open a new office in New York City for GDAX, a Coinbase-owned digital assets exchange for institutional investors.
Coinbase, which is the most popular bitcoin exchange, experienced unprecedented growth during the last year and has processed more than $25 billion USD.
“Digital currencies are having their “Netscape” moment,” Armstrong stated. “The pace of innovation has been accelerating and we are now seeing exciting projects and companies being built on top of digital currencies. We’re beginning to transition into phase three of our secret master plan.”
Last week, the company unveiled that its GDAX platform will start accepting Bitcoin Cash by January 1, 2018. This is despite its previous decision not to support the new cryptocurrency, what provoked angry reaction from its customers. Some of its users even threatened to sue the exchange and created a website called Coinbase Bitcoin Cash Lawsuit Portal.
Coinbase has recently partnered with investment company Fidelity to allow users of the platform track their digital currency holdings, along with traditional assets. The company will share data on clients’ investments with Fidelity.