Tiger Global is in talks to invest in cryptocurrency unicorn Coinbase at $8B valuation

Days after reports emerged that Tiger Global had led the $245 million round for payments platform Stripe, the firm has set its sights on cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase.

The six-year-old company is in negotiations with Tiger Global to raise up to $500 million at an $8 billion valuation, per Recode.

Coinbase declined to comment on the deal.

Coinbase was most recently valued at $1.6 billion following a $100 million round in August 2017, though the company had previously valued itself at $8 billion amid acquisitions talks with cryptocurrency startup Earn, which it paid $120 million for in April.

Capital from the upcoming deal may be used to buy out shareholders. San Francisco-based Coinbase, a leading digital currency exchange, is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Ribbit Capital, Union Square Ventures, IVP, Spark Capital, Greylock Partners, Battery Ventures, Section 32, Draper Associates and several others. It’s raised $225 million in equity funding to date.

Tiger Global Management is killing it right now

Tiger Global, for its part, is a hedge fund known for its crossover investments in emerging technology companies. The 16-year-old New York-based firm often writes sizeable checks in late-stage companies like Spotify, Ola and Flipkart. Lately, it’s also been busy writing smaller checks. In the last year, it’s led cannabis startup Green Bits’ $17 million Series A and participated in subscription billing and payment service Chargebee’s $18 million Series C.

According to PitchBook, Tiger Global has participated in 24 venture capital rounds so far in 2018.

This morning, Coinbase announced two new hires. The first is Jonathan Kellner, who joined as a managing director of its institutional coverage group. The former CEO of Instinet will lead institutional sales and support organizations and will focus on Coinbase’s effort to introduce cryptocurrency to hedge funds and other traditional institutional investors.

The second addition is Chris Dodds, who will join Coinbase’s board of directors. He currently serves on the board of Charles Schwab and is a senior advisor to The Carlyle Group.

Coinbase has made several additions to its c-suite this year as it enters a major growth phase and presumably preps for an IPO. Most recently, it brought on a former Fannie Mae exec Brian Brooks as its chief legal officer and LinkedIn’s Michael Li as its head of data.