Mastercard to acquire blockchain-analytics firm CipherTrace

Mastercard, the payments system, entered into an agreement to acquire CipherTrace, a blockchain-analytics firm that tracks suspicious activity across more than 900 cryptocurrencies. The parties did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

According to the press release, the acquisition will allow the corporation to extend its capabilities in the digital assets space. Based on CipherTrace’s solution package and Mastercard’s own cybersecurity capabilities, the company plans to launch an integrated offering.

The latter will enable enterprises to achieve greater transparency and identify risks, and will help manage their obligations with regard to digital-asset regulation and compliance.

“Digital assets have the potential to rethink commerce — from everyday operations like payments and receipts to transforming the economy into a more inclusive and efficient one. With the rapid growth of the digital assets ecosystem, there is a need to ensure their reliability and security. Our goal is to use Mastercard and CipherTrace’s complementary capabilities for this,” said Ajay Bhalla, president of Mastercard’s Cyber & Intelligence Solutions.

Mastercard noted that current partners among fintechs, crypto-wallet operators and government agencies will gain access to CipherTrace’s solutions.

The deal is expected to close by the end of 2021, subject to certain conditions.

The acquisition of CipherTrace is part of Mastercard’s digital-asset strategy. Earlier it invested in ConsenSys, the developer of solutions for the Ethereum ecosystem, and also signed deals with the bitcoin exchange Gemini and the Australian platform CoinJar.

The company continues to work with Binance, despite increased regulatory scrutiny.

Back in July, Mastercard’s chief Michael Maubach said that Mastercard intended to stay at the centre of new developments in the digital asset space, including CBDC and stablecoins.

Follow ForkLog’s bitcoin news on Telegram — cryptocurrency news, prices and analysis.