Shadowy bitcoin company raises $116M: Report

That tech is the underpinning of the bitcoin cryptocurrency system, and acts as an unchangeable universal record system (that has obvious applications for financial transactions, but could also prove a key backbone for a number of future uses).

Read MoreForget currency, bitcoin's tech is the revolution

One such application could be in the often-foretold "Internet of Things." This is the idea that, in the future, our daily lives will interact with a "network of billions of intelligent devices," according to IBM.

In fact, IBM released an investigation into this concept, concluding that "the 'blockchain' offers a very elegant solution" for many of the logistical issues surrounding the Internet of Things.

Although the company's exact goals are as-yet unknown, 21 co-founder Balaji Srinivasan (who is also a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz) once gave a talk about breaking free from the rule of governments and old institutions by building "a world run by software." (Originally pointed out by Reddit user Noosterdam.)

For more on 21's funding, see The Wall Street Journal's report.

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Shadowy bitcoin company raises $116M: Report