Other Coinbase investors include a subsidiary of USAA bank, the investment arm of Japanese telecom NTT DoCoMo and former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit. In total Coinbase has raised $106 million, the company said.<\/p>\n
Although some small banks have tested cryptocurrencies similar to bitcoin, Coinbase's current round of funding is the first large investment from major banks into the technology, Armstrong said.<\/p>\n
Read More Bitcoin keeps falling, and worries keep rising<\/p>\n
Despite the recent problems for the digital assetincluding a sliding price and a costly hacking incidentthese investors are doing more than chasing a passing fad, he said.<\/p>\n
\"They're really excited about it as a technology, and these people are bitcoin believers,\" Armstrong said. \"They're really interested in the potential that it has to make payments fast, cheap and global for everyone around the world.\" <\/p>\n
Some technologists distinguish bitcoin the currency from bitcoin the technologythe digital protocol could be used for a number of financial applications that could potentially involve fiat currencies. <\/p>\n
Read More Forget currency, bitcoin's tech is the revolution<\/p>\n
Armstrong told CNBC that he did not anticipate any of Coinbase's investors acquiring his company in the near future. \"We want to stay as an independent company,\" he said. <\/p>\n
Armstrong emphasized that bitcoin's exchange rate (which went from about $1,150 in 2013 to the current level of around $220) was not essential to the success of his company, or its investors. As a provider of bitcoin wallets and facilitator of payments, Coinbase is more reliant on trade volume than daily price, he said. <\/p>\n
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See the original post: Other Coinbase investors include a subsidiary of USAA bank, the investment arm of Japanese telecom NTT DoCoMo and former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit. Continue reading
\nFinance firms placing bet on bitcoin, or are they?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"