Coinbase

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Coinbase, Inc.
Coinbase
FoundedSan Francisco, California, United States (June 20, 2012)
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, United States
Area served33 U.S. States and some countries
Founder(s)Brian Armstrong
Fred Ehrsam
ProductsBitcoin exchange and wallet service
URLOfficial website
Users2,800,000 (Nov 2015)[1]
[2][3][4]

Coinbase is a bitcoin wallet and exchange company headquartered in San Francisco California, founded by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam.[3][5] It operates exchanges between bitcoin and fiat currencies in 32 countries, and bitcoin transactions and storage in 190 countries worldwide. [6][7][8][9]

History

Coinbase was founded in June 2012 and enrolled in the summer 2012 Y Combinator program. In October 2012 the company launched the ability to buy and sell bitcoin through bank transfers.[10] In May 2013, the company received a US$5 million Series A investment led by Fred Wilson from the venture capital firm Union Square Ventures.[11] In December 2013, the company received a US$25 million investment, from the venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures and Ribbit Capital.[12]

In 2014 the company grew to one million users, acquired the blockchain explorer service Blockr and the web bookmarking company Kippt, secured insurance covering the value of bitcoin stored on their servers, and launched the vault system for secure bitcoin storage.[13][14][15] Throughout 2014 the company also formed partnerships with Overstock, Dell, Expedia, Dish Network, Time Inc., and Wikipedia to power accepting bitcoin payments.[16][17][18][19][20] The company also added bitcoin payment processing capabilities to the traditional payment companies Stripe, Braintree, and PayPal.[21]

In January 2015, the company received a US$75 million investment, led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the New York Stock Exchange, USAA, and several banks, "apparently the first time any traditional financial institutions have taken direct stakes in a bitcoin enterprise."[22] Later in January the company launched a U.S.-based bitcoin exchange.[23]

Products

Coinbase has three core products: an exchange for trading bitcoin and fiat currency, a wallet for bitcoin storage and transactions, and an API for developers and merchants to build applications and accept bitcoin payments. The company offers buy/sell trading functionality in 25 countries, while the wallet is available in 190 countries worldwide.[24]

The exchange can be funded through a bank transfer or wire, and trades on the exchange have a maker/taker price model in which traders pay either a 0.25% fee (taker) or nothing (maker) to execute trades.[25]

References

  1. ^ Nermin Hajdarbegovic (2013-12-19). "Coinbase passes 650,000 users in less than a year". CoinDesk. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
  2. ^ "About Coinbase". Coinbase. Retrieved 1 Oct 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Company Overview of Coinbase, Inc". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  4. ^ "Coinbase". LinkedIn. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  5. ^ "Dish Network Says It Will Accept Bitcoin". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  6. ^ "Coinbase - Your Hosted Bitcoin Wallet". Coinbase. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  7. ^ Fowler, Geoffrey A. (2014-02-18). "Bitcoin experiment in everyday life". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
  8. ^ Fung, Brian. "Expedia wants you to book your next hotel stay with Bitcoin". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  9. ^ Ember, Sydney (2014-09-10). "Coinbase Extends Bitcoin Access to International Customers". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  10. ^ Ludwig, Sean (2013-02-08). "Y Combinator-backed Coinbase now selling over $1M Bitcoins per month".
  11. ^ Sarah E. Needleman (2013-05-07). "Coinbase Nabs $5M in Biggest Funding for Bitcoin Startup". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  12. ^ Alex Williams (2013-12-12). "Coinbase Raises $25M Led By Andreessen Horowitz To Build Its Bitcoin Wallet And Merchant Services". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2013-12-13.
  13. ^ Cutler, Kim-Mai (2014-05-06). "Coinbase Acquires YC-Backed Kippt To Beef Up Its Product, Design Talent".
  14. ^ Cutler, Kim-Mai (2014-08-18). "Coinbase Acquires Blockchain Explorer Blockr.io".
  15. ^ Knight, Shawn (2014-09-01). "Coinbase has been insuring Bitcoin deposits for nearly a year".
  16. ^ Burns, Matt (2013-12-21). "Overstock.com partners with Coinbase and starts accepting bitcoins as payment". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
  17. ^ Kharif, Olga. "Expedia to Accept Bitcoins for Online Hotel Bookings". Bloomberg. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  18. ^ "Expedia.com Now Accepts Bitcoin to Give Travelers More Choice and Flexibility in Hotel Payments". Bloomberg. Jun 11, 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  19. ^ Rizzo, Pete. "Time Inc Becomes First Major Magazine Publisher to Accept Bitcoin". Coindesk. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  20. ^ Wilhelm, Alex (2014-07-18). "Dell Now Accepts Bitcoin For All Online U.S. Purchases". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  21. ^ Del Rey, Jason (2014-03-27). "Stripe Merchants Will Soon Be Able to Accept Bitcoin Payments".
  22. ^ Vigna, Paul and Casey, Michael (2015-01-20). "Coinbase raises 75 million in funding round". Wall Street Journal.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ Bensinger, Greg (2015-01-25). "First U.S. Bitcoin Exchange Set to Open". Wall Street Journal.
  24. ^ Reisinger, Don (2014-09-11). "Bitcoin platform Coinbase expands to 13 European countries".
  25. ^ "Coinbase Exchange Documentation". 2015-01-26.

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