Coinbase announces $300 million fundraise

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange operator in the U.S., announced on Tuesday it completed its Series E fundraise of $300 million. 

The announcement, which confirms an earlier report on the news by Recode, means the company is valued at more than $8 billion. The round was led by Tiger Global and also includes backing from Y Combinator Continuity, Wellington Management, Andreessen Horowitz, and Polychain.

Despite the bear market in crypto, Coinbase has raked in money this year. As per a report Tuesday by Bloomberg New's Julie VerHage, the firm is projecting 2018 revenue of $1.3 billion. According to a news release, Coinbase will use the money from the fundraise to continue to expand globally, build out its custody business, and set the foundation for a marketplace that could trade thousands of assets. The firm, which is best-known for its retail brokerage, in 2018 has expanded its business into venture capital investing, institutional brokerage, and custody. From the release:

"Offering more crypto assets, quickly — we see hundreds of cryptocurrencies that could be added to our platform today and we will lay the groundwork to support thousands in the future."

Coinbase currently trades only six assets on its cryptocurrencies. Still, the firm revamped its listings policies to make it easier to bring new coins to market in certain regions. 

The firm traditionally only listed coins that fit the firm’s own internal standards and didn't conflict with U.S. securities law, according to a September blog-post. Now, the firm is looking to list coins in certain regions irrespective of U.S. regulation. In an interview with The Block, Coinbase’s chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan described the move as key to more quickly list additional coins and becoming a more globally-oriented company. 

“We think crypto is global, and we look at it from a global perspective,” Srinivasan said in a phone interview. “We have operations in literally dozens of countries and our goal now is to be compliant with the law at a local level.”

Coinbase has offices in Dublin, Chicago, New York, Portland, Tokyo, and is headquartered in San Francisco. In August 2017, the firm announced a $100 million Series D fundraising round. The round, which was led by Institutional Venture Partners, gave it a valuation of $1.6 billion. 

In addition, Fortune reported the firm might also soon hold a secondary offering worth $200 million or more. Per Fortune, it would "serve as a vehicle for some employees and early investors to cash in their shares, and would not change the overall amount of capital raised by Coinbase."