CryptoCurrency PayCoin | Number One In CryptoCurrency Coaching

Coinbase said it raised $75 million in the single largest venture-capital fundraising by a bitcoin-related startup. Michael Casey joins MoneyBeat. Photo: Getty.

PAUL VIGNAAnd

MICHAEL J. CASEY

Jan. 20, 2015 9:00 a.m. ET

Coinbase said it raised $75 million in the single largest venture-capital fundraising by a bitcoin-related startup.

Investors included banks and the New York Stock Exchange, apparently the first time any traditional financial institutions have taken direct stakes in a bitcoin enterprise.

Coinbase, based in San Francisco, offers a number of financial services for individuals and businesses, such as processing transactions for merchants that accept bitcoin.

Bitcoin, a digital currency created six years ago that allows for peer-to-peer transactions outside the traditional banking system, has been beset by bad news, most prominently a brutal selloff in the currency. After falling 67% in 2014, it careened down another 44% in January before stabilizing.

The Series C funding round was led by the well-known Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which has previously invested in Coinbase. Other VC investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and Ribbit Capital, all of which have also previously invested in the firm.

The round included investments from several banks and individuals in financial services: USAA Bank; BBVA Ventures, the San Francisco-based investment arm of multinationalBBVA Group; and the NYSE. The banks all made investments of between $1 million and $10 million, Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong said.NTT DoCoMo, Japans biggest mobile phone operator, is also an investor.

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CryptoCurrency PayCoin | Number One In CryptoCurrency Coaching