CipherTrace
Mastercard acquires major crypto forensics outfit CipherTrace
The global payments giant plans to incorporate the crypto intelligence project into its digital currency expansion plans.
Mastercard’s focus on crypto and digital currencies appears to have taken a greater dimension given the company’s recent move.
According to a release on Thursday, the global payments giant has reached an agreement to acquire CipherTrace, a blockchain intelligence firm with crypto forensics capabilities for over 900 cryptocurrencies.
As part of the acquisition, Mastercard says it plans to integrate CipherTrace’s operations into its own cyber security solutions for digital assets.
According to the announcement, Mastercard will combine its cyber capabilities with CipherTrace technology to differentiate its card and real-time payments architecture. For Mastercard, the deal will allow clients and partners to adopt digital assets while maintaining compliance with financial regulatory provisions.
Commenting on the acquisition, Mastercard’s cyber and intelligence chief Ajay Bhalla remarked that the growth of the crypto market has necessitated the need for trusted and safe operations.
Indeed, Mastercard has been visible in the crypto and blockchain investment scene, including partnerships with notable crypto primitives in the crypto credit and debit card arena, such as Gemini and BitPay.
Back in July, the company’s CEO stated that Mastercard needed to establish a significant presence in the crypto space. At the time, the payments giant revealed plans to become the de-facto testing partner for stablecoin and central bank digital currency projects.
In May, the company published a survey stating that 40% of people intend to adopt crypto for payments in 2022.
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The acquisition of a major player in the crypto forensics arena like CipherTrace might be geared towards greater interaction with central banks and stablecoin issuers on digital currency matters.
As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Crypto.com announced plans to integrate CipherTrace’s “Traveller” tool into its compliance toolkit as a way of ensuring compliance with the Financial Action Task Force’s “Travel Rule.”
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Binance beefs up blockchain analytics amid a surge in DeFi exploits.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain intelligence company CipherTrace has announced analytics support for Binance Smart Chain (BSC) amid a rise in attacks and vulnerabilities on protocols running on the network.
In an announcement on May 27, the firm stated that it aims to identify higher-risk financial transactions taking place on BSC and its decentralized applications which now number more than 600. CipherTrace already tracks the activity of over a thousand digital assets. Dave Jevans, CEO of CipherTrace, stated that once support for a blockchain is added, the firm can add analytics for all applications built on that network.
The inclusion of CipherTrace’s analytics also allows Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), such as exchanges, banks, OTC desks, hosted wallets, and other financial institutions, to flag transactions occurring on BSC that have a high probability of originating in illicit activity, including fraud.
Binance Chief Compliance Officer, Samuel Lim, noted that compliance with global anti-money laundering regulations is paramount and CipherTrace will help them achieve that.
“CipherTrace incorporating Binance Smart Chain data into its attribution system to support applications and exchanges is a move to combat illicit activities. In the long run, this will gain BSC more credibility and partnerships in the fiat and regulated space.”
BSC has been the epicenter of illicit activity and DeFi exploits over the past few months. The list of protocols losing money to malicious actors is growing, the largest of which is PancakeBunny which lost as much as $200 million in BNB and its native token in a massive flash loan attack on May 20.
Other DeFi protocols running on BSC that have been hacked or exploited recently include Cream Finance, bEarn, Bogged Finance, Uranium Finance, Meerkat Finance, SafeMoon, and Spartan Protocol.
Earlier this month, Marie Tatibouet, chief marketing officer of crypto exchange Gate.io told Cointelegraph that the lack of due diligence has exacerbated these exploits due to BSC’s centralized nature, adding that “they are greenlighting hundreds of projects every single week.”