by Chiara Rossi Mastercard buys Ciphertrace, a cryptocurrency intelligence company that provides fraud monitoring solutions in the world of digital assets. All the details
Mastercard is betting on cryptocurrencies by purchasing blockchain analytics start-up CipherTrace. The US payments giant announced the acquisition of Ciphertrace to provide "further transparency and support" for the nascent digital asset ecosystem. In a note from the financial services multinational, we read that Ciphertrace is a company specializing in anti-money laundering solutions and attacks on the blockchain, the engine that moves bitcoins, through an analysis platform that allows the tracking and deanonymization of cryptocurrency transactions. The agreement is the latest sign of how major companies are showing greater interest in the cryptocurrency market. In recent months, Mastercard had already said it will open its network to select cryptocurrencies, while rival Visa recently revealed that more than $ 1 billion worth of cryptocurrencies has been spent by consumers using its cryptocurrency-linked payment cards. “I am proud to announce that CipherTrace is being acquired by Mastercard. This will bring a new era of legitimacy to cryptocurrencies and digital assets and extend our capabilities to over 20,000 banks, cryptocurrency companies and governments, ”CipherTrace CEO Dave Jevans announced on Twitter. All the details.
THE OPERATIONThe payment giant said Thursday that it has entered into an agreement to purchase CipherTrace for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will be completed by the end of the year
WHAT CIPHERTRACE DOESHeadquartered in Menlo Park, California, CipherTrace's platform is able to offer the multinational's clients services to strengthen security and fraud monitoring activities for cryptocurrency-related programs. Mastercard said the company operates over 900 cryptocurrencies. Ciphertrace counts governments, regulators and banks as clients. As CNBC reports, the company's competitors include New York-based Chainalysis and London-based start-up Elliptic. According to Crunchbase, Ciphertrace has raised $ 45 million to date, including a $ 27 million venture round in May.
THE MASTERCARD STRATEGYAs part of the acquisition, Mastercard says it plans to integrate CipherTrace's operations into its cybersecurity solutions for digital assets. A key concern with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is that the people who carry them are anonymous. However, the blockchain is a public record of all digital currency transactions and services like CipherTrace analyze the movements of funds to ascertain if they are in doubt. "With the rapid growth of the digital asset ecosystem comes the need to ensure that it is reliable and secure. Our goal is to leverage the complementary capabilities of Mastercard and CipherTrace to do just that, ”the company said. “Digital assets have the potential to reinvent commerce, from day-to-day operations such as paying and getting paid to transforming entire economies, making them more inclusive and efficient,” said Ajay Bhalla, president of cyber intelligence at Mastercard. THE INCURSION OF MASTERCARD IN THE CRYPTOCURRENCIES SECTOR In July, Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard, said the company needed to establish a significant presence in the crypto space. In May, the company released a survey stating that 40% of people intend to adopt cryptocurrencies for payments in 2022. In addition to providing cryptocurrency card services to multiple exchanges, Mastercard has numerous blockchain businesses. Last April, it invested in ConsenSys, a software development company from Ethereum, one of the most popular blockchain platforms. Without forgetting the role of Mastercard in the world 10 September 2021
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