Bitcoin Global News (BGN)

February 13, 2019 -- ADVFN Crypto NewsWire -- The cryptocurrency industry is often perceived as a kind of lawless, “wild-west” digital environment. However, the nature of transactions using cryptocurrencies isn’t fueled by the currencies themselves, but rather illicit activity that has already been happening on the internet. And on governance of the currencies themselves, Chainalysis is exactly the type of startup one could expect from a decentralized system of currency.

Chainalysis was founded in New York City and has the primary objective of establishing trust in blockchain networks between people, businesses, and governments. The start up just completed a Series B funding round totalling $30 million.

“The investment and the timing of it shows that, despite fluctuating prices, there is quite a strong conviction among some very big VCs that this is not a short term play.” - Michael Gronager, CEO and co-founder of Chainalysis

It was led by VC firm Accel and included additional investments from Benchmark, which led Chainalysis’ $16 million initial round last April. The startup has noted that some of the funding will be used to open a new office and research and development lab in London. The company has ongoing work with Barclays in the UK.

Digital Vigilantes

Their software was initially designed to spot connections between entities on the Bitcoin blockchain, and in this way helps businesses and banks to detect fraud and prevent money laundering. They have now extended their software to be used on the Bitcoin Cash, Ether and Litecoin networks as well - with plans to further increase this pool of cryptocurrencies. This type of mindfulness will become more and more important with the increased prevalence of stablecoins. The company offers two major services:

Chainalysis Reactor - Investigation software suite

Chainalysis cryptocurrency investigation software helps law enforcement and financial institutions identify and stop bad actors who are using cryptocurrencies for illicit activity such as fraud, extortion, and money laundering.

Chainalysis Know-Your-Transaction - Compliance software suite

The intuitive interface has been designed with anti-money laundering (AML) compliance workflows in mind. The service offers real-time transaction screening via the KYT API, monitoring large volumes of activity and identifying high risk transactions on a continuous basis.

This services includes KYT for Token Issuers, which assesses risk of exposure to illicit activity specific to token issuers at point of issuance or redemption.

By: BGN Editorial Staff