Coinbase leads $14.6 million round in Bastion as firm leans into stablecoin infrastructure

Coinbase Ventures led a $14.6 million financing round in Bastion as the firm zeroes in on providing enterprise-grade stablecoin infrastructure, according to a statement on Wednesday.

Sony Innovation Fund, a16z crypto, Samsung Next, and Hashed also participated in the round. The startup has raised over $40 million total, Bastion said.

The new capital will aid Bastion’s efforts to promote its services, which include helping enterprises and financial institutions "hold and utilize stablecoins at scale within their ecosystems in a way that is efficient, safe, and fully compliant," the company said.

"Bastion is growing to meet significant demand for regulated stablecoin infrastructure from some of the world’s largest enterprises," said Bastion co-founder and CEO Nassim Eddequiouaq. "The evolution of our financial system will continue to accelerate as digital assets and stablecoin adoption proliferates."

Stablecoin adoption is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. Major U.S. financial institutions are planning to launch their own U.S. dollar-pegged tokens.

"Trusted digital asset infrastructure is the bedrock for the creation of scalable digital financial products that enterprises increasingly seek,” said Coinbase Chief Business Officer Shan Aggarwal.

In 2023, Bastion, which was founded by two former a16z crypto executives, raised $25 million in a seed round, led by a16z crypto, one of the most prolific venture capitalists investing in digital assets. At the time, Bastion's focus was on improving the process for firms to adopt blockchain-based technology and onboard web3 users.