Coinbase wants to raise $300M to rectify crypto industry flaws

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider Coinbase aims to raise $300M to solve some of the problems that plagued Bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry, accelerating mass adoption of digital assets.

This new funding round will take the company's valuation to $8 billion, making it one of the most valuable startups in the USA.

"We see tremendous promise in crypto to build the next great phase of the internet (often referred to as Web 3), which has the power to put control back in the hands of consumers, unleash a new era of innovation, and offer greater access to economic opportunities to more people around the world," Coinbase's president and chief operating officer Asiff Hirji commented in a blog post.

What the money will buy?

Coinbase identified several focus areas of improvement:

• global expansion
• increasing the number of cryptocurrencies available for users
• developing applications for Bitcoin and other coins
• bringing financial institutions into the crypto industry.

To achieve these goals, Coinbase plans to create an infrastructure for trading digital assets for fiat within a regulatory framework and add extend its custody offering by adding new features and new coins.

While Bitcoin institutional adoption is the talk of the town this year, traditional financial tycoons are in no hurry to jump the crypto bandwagon, focusing on blockchain use cases. Speculations about big banks adding crypto-related products and services to their portfolios have failed to materialize so far.