We present a theoretical study of the conductance and thermopower of single-molecule junctions based on C 60 and C 60 -terminated molecules. We first analyze the transport properties of gold-C 60 -gold junctions and show that these junctions can be highly conductive (with conductances above 0.1G 0 , where G 0 = 2e 2 /h is the quantum of conductance). Moreover, we find that the thermopower in these junctions is negative due to the fact that the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital dominates the charge transport, and its magnitude can reach several tens of microvolts per kelvin, depending on the contact geometry. On the other hand, we study the suitability of C 60 as an anchoring group in single-molecule junctions. For this purpose, we analyze the transport through several dumbbell derivatives using C 60 as anchors, and we compare the results with those obtained with thiol and amine groups. Our results show that the conductance of C 60 -terminated molecules is rather sensitive to the binding geometry. Moreover, the conductance of the molecules is typically reduced by the presence of the C 60 anchors, which in turn makes the junctions more sensitive to the functionalization of the molecular core with appropriate side groups.