Payments giant Mastercard (NYSE: MA) announced Thursday that it has agreed to acquire cryptocurrency intelligence and blockchain analytics company CipherTrace for an undisclosed sum.
Founded in 2015, CipherTrace focuses on crypto-currency intelligence, anti-money laundering (AML), blockchain analytics and forensics, and compliance solutions. The company first started tracking Bitcoin criminal activity in 2011, and claims to have insight into more than 900 cryptocurrencies.
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“Digital assets have the potential to reimagine commerce, from everyday acts like paying and getting paid to transforming economies, making them more inclusive and efficient,” said Ajay Bhalla, president, Cyber & Intelligence at Mastercard. “With the rapid growth of the digital asset ecosystem comes the need to ensure it is trusted and safe. Our aim is to build upon the complementary capabilities of Mastercard and CipherTrace to do just this.”
The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year.
Earlier this year, Mastercard announced that it would buy digital identity verification company Ekata for $850 million. In early 2020, Mastercard acquired third-party risk management firm RiskRecon, and acquired Ethoca in 2019, a firm that helps merchants and issuers to identify and resolve digital frauds such as false chargebacks.
Related: CipherTrace Unveils Crypto-Currency Anti-Money Laundering Solution