In a deal that will put Westpac Banking Corp in the box seat as cryptocurrencies develop, the bank's venture capital fund, Reinventure Group, has invested in Coinbase, one of the world's pre-eminent Bitcoin companies.

In the first deal involving an Australian bank and a Bitcoin company, it is understood that Reinventure joined a $US75 million raising Coinbase conducted earlier this year, which also won support by some of the world's largest venture capital firms, the New York Stock Exchange and former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit.

Reinventure has taken a stake in Bitcoin company Coinbase, which has 2.3 million users and 3 million digital "wallets". Credit:Tomohiro Ohsumi

Backers of Coinbase are making bets that blockchain technology will radically transform the movement of money around the globe's financial system. The investment by Reinventure will allow Westpac to monitor a future world where money morphs beyond central bank-regulated currencies into a myriad of forms.

"We plan to work closely with Reinventure and share insights into the use of digital currencies globally," the