Mastercard announces acquisition of blockchain analytics firm CipherTrace
Mastercard has entered into an agreement to acquire CipherTrace, a blockchain analytics firm specializing in tracking suspicious blockchain activity across more than 900 cryptocurrencies. The parties did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.
According to the press release, the purchase will allow the corporation to expand its capabilities in digital assets. Based on CipherTrace's suite of solutions and Mastercard's own cybersecurity know-how, it plans to launch an integrated offering.
The latter "will allow businesses to provide greater transparency and identify risks and help manage their digital asset regulatory and compliance obligations."
Digital assets have the potential to redefine commerce, from everyday transactions like paying and receiving money to transforming the economy into a more inclusive and efficient one. With the rapid growth of the digital asset ecosystem comes the need to ensure their reliability and security. Our goal is to leverage the complementary capabilities of Mastercard and CipherTrace to do this, said payment system president of cyber and smart solutions Ajay Bhalla.
Mastercard noted that current partners of the corporation among fintech companies, cryptocurrency wallet operators and government agencies will have access to CipherTrace solutions.
The deal is expected to close by the end of 2021 if "certain conditions" are met.
The acquisition of CipherTrace is part of Mastercard's digital asset strategy. It has previously invested in Ethereum ecosystem solutions developer ConsenSys, and has agreements with bitcoin exchange Gemini and Australian platform CoinJar.
The corporation continues to cooperate with Binance, despite increased scrutiny from regulators.
Recall that in July, the head of the payment giant Michael Maybach said that Mastercard intends to remain in the center of new developments from the field of digital assets, including CBDC and stabelcoin.