U.S compliance startup Chainalysis has expanded its tracking service to now cover ten cryptocurrencies in total. The startup has been helping regulators as well as businesses track transactions for six cryptos. Having started with Bitcoin Core (BTC), it later expanded to include Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash (BCHABC), Ether, Paxos Standard and TrueUSD.
And now, Chainalysis will also offer tracking services for the Gemini dollar, Binance Coin, USD coin and Tether. The startup does the monitoring through its know your transaction (KYT) anti-money laundering platform. The platform has over 100 crypto exchanges and financial institutions using it.
Speaking to Reuters in an interview, the startup’s co-founder and chief operating officer Jonathan Levin expressed his belief that time has come for regulatory clarity on cryptos. According to him, 2019 will be the year in which inter-governmental entities shed light on the regulation of cryptos. He believes that one recommendation which could really improve the industry is for companies to automate the monitoring and processing of crypto transactions. He explained:
“We have been investing for the last year to re-architect our entire platform to support multiple blockchains in the face of global regulation. Global regulation of the cryptocurrency industry is inevitable for this truly borderless financial system to achieve mainstream adoption.”
Chainalysis has become renowned in the crypto industry for its comprehensive researches on crypto crimes. In its latest research, it revealed that the crypto industry was being mainly terrorized by two groups of highly sophisticated hackers. According to its research, the two groups had been responsible for over $1 billion in stolen cryptos, accounting for over 60 percent of all the stolen cryptos.
And yet, despite all this, the startup found itself in the midst of a privacy controversy recently. After Coinbase acquired Neutrino, millions of crypto users took to social media to express concern that crypto analytics firms could be sharing their data with third parties. Chainalysis was among the startups that users pointed a finger at. The New York-based startup had to publish a comprehensive post detailing how it handles data, explaining that it doesn’t share any personally identifiable information.
With tracking and monitoring becoming ever-so-crucial as cryptos invade the institutional level, it has been no surprise that investors have been ready to back the startup. In February this year, the startup announced that it had raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Accel Partners, with Japanese giant MUFG also participating.
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