????安德森?霍洛維茨基金公司已經進入了一路高歌猛進的比特幣市場。

????由Netscape聯合創始人馬克?安德森與他人共同執掌的知名硅谷風投公司向電子貨幣“錢包”供應商Coinbase注資2000萬美元。用戶可以利用這樣的錢包來購買、出售比特幣，或者用比特幣消費。

????安德森?霍洛維茨是Coinbase“B輪”融資的牽頭公司。包括合廣投資（Union Square Ventures）和Ribbit資本（Ribbit Capital）在內的其他投資公司將注資500萬美元，從而為Coinbase的新一輪融資提供2500萬美元資金。

????合廣投資還參與了Coinbase的前一輪融資，規模為500萬美元。作為本次注資行動的一部分，安德森?霍洛維茨的克里斯?迪克森和合廣投資的弗雷德?威爾森將出任Coinbase公司的董事。

????Coinbase是安德森?霍洛維茨注入巨資的第一家涉及比特幣業務的公司。迪克森表示，選擇在此時投資的部分原因是，最近參議院聽證會表明，美聯儲主席伯南克和其他監管機構似乎對這種虛擬貨幣持支持態度。但是迪克森還說，他關注比特幣已經有較長一段時間了。

????10月份安德森曾表示，他的公司正在醞釀對外投資。在《財富》雜志今年夏天舉辦的頭腦風暴科技大會上，安德森?霍洛維茨公司另一位聯合創始人本?霍洛維茨表示，他認為比特幣未來有望成為主流。

????迪克森說：“現有的在線支付方式有問題。它的費用很高，而且詐騙時有發生。這種情況表明銀行、信用卡、貝寶（Paypal）和其他方式所使用的技術都已經過時。”

????Coinbase擁有60萬用戶，他們可以將銀行賬戶綁定虛擬錢包，進而購買比特幣。其他服務商則要求用戶向國外匯款，然后才能購買到這種電子貨幣。Coinbase已經和1.6萬家商戶簽約，后者將通過Coinbase公司的支付系統接受比特幣。

????迪克森說，Coinbase已與監管機構和銀行開展合作，以確保系統的安全性。他還表示，這家公司是比特幣市場正在走向成熟的例證。迪克森說：“很多游說人士都已經關注比特幣較長一段時間了，而目前的情況是，參與其中的是那些更具專業水準的硅谷派企業。我預計、而且也希望看到更多的企業進入這個領域。”

????把寶押在比特幣獲得成功上的人似乎越來越多。比特幣的價值最近一路飆升。但迪克森說，讓他的公司感興趣的是比特幣帶來的技術進步，而不是把它當成一種貨幣游戲。迪克森表示，安德森?霍洛維茨并沒有真的花錢來購買比特幣。

????“我認為人們不應把積蓄換成比特幣。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：翔??

????Andreessen Horowitz is buying into the growing market for bitcoins.

????The prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm co-led by Marc Andreessen, the Netscape co-founder, is investing about $20 million into Coinbase, which provides "wallets" for the digital currency. The wallets allow users to buy and sell bitcoins as well as spend them.

????The firm is the lead investor in a "Series B" round funding for Coinbase. Other investors, including Union Square Ventures and Ribbit Capital, are kicking in an additional $5 million. Coinbase is getting a total of $25 million in new funding.

????Union Square was part of an earlier round of financing that raised $5 million for Coinbase. As part of the current deal, Andreessen Horowitz's Chris Dixon and Union Square's Fred Wilson will be joining Coinbase's board of directors.

????Coinbase marks Andreessen Horowitz's first major investment into a bitcoin-related company. Dixon said the timing of the investment was in part motivated by a recent Senate hearing that produced statements from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and other regulators that seemed to back the virtual currency. But Dixon said he has been watching the bitcoin market for a while.

????Back in October, Andreessen said that the firm was scoping out investments. At Fortune's Brainstorm Tech this summer, the VC firm's other co-founder Ben Horowitz said he thought bitcoins would go mainstream.

????"The existing way to pay for things online is broken," says Dixon. "It has high fees, and the fact that fraud is such a problem shows that the technology that banks, credit cards, PayPal, and others use is based on antiquated technology."

????Coinbase has 600,000 users, who can link their bank account to a virtual wallet to buy bitcoins. Other services require users to wire cash to foreign countries in order to buy the digital currency. The company has also signed up 16,000 merchants that will accept bitcoins through Coinbase's payment system.

????Dixon says Coinbase has worked with regulators and banks to ensure that its system is safe. Dixon says the company is an example of how the bitcoin marketplace is maturing. "Lots of hobbyists have been interested in bitcoin for a while, but what you are seeing now is a more professional class of Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurs getting involved," says Dixon. "I expect and hope to see more companies started."

????More and more people appear to be betting on the success of bitcoins. The value of the currency has recently soared. But Dixon says his firm is excited about bitcoin as a technological advance, not as a currency play. Dixon says Andreessen Horowitz hasn't put money into actual bitcoins.

????"We don't think people should be putting their savings in bitcoins."?