The exchange’s venture arm joins Sony, Samsung and a16z in funding Bastion’s push to expand corporate stablecoin services
Djames99/Shutterstock and Adobe modified by Blockworks
Coinbase Ventures has led a $14.6 million investment in Bastion, a startup specializing in white-label stablecoin issuance.
Announced Wednesday, the round also included contributions from Sony’s and Samsung’s venture arms, Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto fund, and Hashed. Bastion enables companies to launch branded stablecoins without directly securing regulatory licenses or developing technical infrastructure.
Bastion was founded in 2022 by former Andreessen Horowitz executives Nassim Eddequiouaq and Riyaz Faizullabhoy, who previously worked on Meta’s abandoned Libra stablecoin project. Eddequiouaq remains CEO, while Faizullabhoy has since left the company.
Bastion raised $25 million in a 2023 seed round and now employs 27 staff. Its services include wallet infrastructure and fiat off-ramps in 70 countries, tools Eddequiouaq said were designed based on shortcomings identified during the Libra initiative.
The raise comes amid heightened interest in stablecoins, which have expanded beyond crypto trading into mainstream payments and settlements. Stripe acquired stablecoin startup Bridge for $1.1 billion in February 2025, Circle went public in June, and President Donald Trump signed new legislation in July regulating stablecoin issuance.
According to Blockworks Research, total crypto fundraising volumes have surged in recent months, hitting their highest levels since early 2022, with finance and infrastructure projects leading the pack. In the past 90 days alone, Coinbase Ventures has outpaced all other investors by deal count.
This is a developing story.
This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor Jeffrey Albus before publication.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
- 0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst.
- Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.
- Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.
- The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.
- Lightspeed: All things Solana.
- Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.
Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.
Mon – Wed, October 13 – 15, 2025
Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.
Research
EtherFi, the largest liquid restaking protocol, is repositioning itself as a consumer-facing crypto neobank. Beyond staking, it is building a revenue mix around cards, vaults, and trading, aiming to capture sustainable front-end economics in DeFi. The shift highlights EtherFi’s ambition to expand from infrastructure into a full financial platform.
news
Breaking headlines across our core coverage categories.
Stablecoin issuer seeks up to $20 billion in a private placement, aiming to join world’s most valuable private firms
Bankruptcy trust seeks to recover customer funds allegedly funneled into Bitcoin miner investments through Alameda Research
Optimum’s faster relay, tested by Everstake, could boost validator rewards today and help Ethereum move toward 6-second slots tomorrow