FORTUNE — BitPay is touting itself as the top dog in the Bitcoin payment processing space with an announcement Tuesday that it has raised $30 million in a funding round.
Its total accumulated funding: $32.7 million, according to a release.
The three-year-old start-up has a celebrity list of investors, including PayPal’s founder Peter Thiel, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson.
Branson, who announced last year that Virgin Galactic would take payments for space flights in the form of Bitcoin, said in a statement Tuesday regarding his BitPay investment:
“Banking as we know it is in the midst of enormous change and innovation. We have jumped in by investing in alternative payment models and also by accepting bitcoin for tickets on Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline.”
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He added, “BitPay has proven itself to process Bitcoin safely and reliably, growing the market and increasing adoption, which continues to build trust, legitimacy and momentum in this exciting currency revolution.”
BitPay said it processes $1 million in Bitcoin payments each day for 30,000 merchants. Half of its customers are based in the U.S., while 30% are in Europe and 20% are in the rest of the world.
The company plans to use the influx of cash to expand globally. Its in the process of making 70 new hires, which will triple its workforce in Atlanta, San Francisco, Buenos Aires and Amsterdam.
