UPDATED 00:05 EDT / JUNE 05 2017

EMERGING TECH

Report: Bitcoin exchange Coinbase looking to raise $100M on a $1B valuation

Bitcoin exchange Coinbase Inc. is looking to raise a new round of $100 million on a valuation of $1 billion, according to reports first published Friday.

The company, founded in 2012, offers an online platform that allows merchants, consumers and traders to transact with bitcoin. It includes a bitcoin wallet and the ability to buy and sell bitcoin along with a range of merchant payment processing systems and tools that allow sites to accept bitcoin as a payment method.

The Wall Street Journal first broke the story, but details on the round were not clear. The report didn’t say whether existing investors were participating in the round or whether it would consist primarily of new investors. What is clear though is that if the report is accurate, the investment would represent the biggest funding round on record for a venture capital-backed bitcoin company. Coinbase previously raised $117 million over five rounds from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Venture DFJ, the New York Stock Exchange and a number of high-profile banks.

The round would come at a time of increasing interest in bitcoin, which has hit record highs multiple times over the last month. Coinbase’s transaction volume is said to have reflected the overall bitcoin market, with the company booking record trading volumes, to the point where it crashed at one point in late May because it couldn’t handle the surge.

Coinbase is not without its critics, however. The company, which received formal licensing from the New York Department of Financial Services in March, has been strict on its users in terms of how they use bitcoin to make sure they do not run afoul of various state and federal laws. One of the most common complaints against the company is its processing speed. Users on Reddit complain that it sometimes takes days for bitcoin orders to be processed, not a particularly helpful feature at a time of high-volume trading at record prices.

Given its growing pains, new funding would presumably be used by Coinbase to improve its customer service delivery. It also could expand its services into more countries given that it primarily serves countries in North America, Australia and New Zealand and parts of the European Union.

Image: zennie62/Flickr

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