Mastercard Purchases Crypto Intelligence Firm CipherTrace

Mastercard said on Thursday that it has agreed to buy blockchain analytics startup CipherTrace for an undisclosed amount.

Mastercard has taken a big step toward cryptocurrency adoption with the purchase of CipherTrace, a blockchain analytics startup. CipherTrace creates tools that help companies and government officials suss out illegal cryptocurrency transactions much like Chanalysis and Elliptic. The exact financial details of the sale have yet to be disclosed. 

Mastercard says that the deal will help to deal with a key concern surrounding bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. That concern being the anonymity of the people making transactions. Mastercard says the acquisition of CipherTrace will help customers to better protect themselves against any possible attacks. Additionally, the deal will help Mastercard stay compliant with regulators as it continues to develop its own digital currency project. 

Making crypto more secure for customers

In a statement, Ajay Bhalla, President of Cyber and Intelligence at Mastercard, said that “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.” Bhalla added that as the digital asset world continues to grow, the need for it to be safe and secure also grows. 

CipherTrace will help Mastercard massively in this endeavor, the team has a history of working with large banks and exchanges and tracks more than 7,000 cryptocurrency entities. 

In the press release, CEO of CipherTrace Dave Jevans said “We help companies – whether they are banks or cryptocurrency exchanges, government regulators or law enforcement to keep the crypto economy safe.”

The move will allow for Mastercard to take both company’s AI and cyber tools to work together in order to allow global customers to benefit from digital assets. 

Mastercard says the pairing of companies is an important part of the company’s strategy to help give consumers and merchants choices on how they use digital assets day today. Mastercard has been making a habit of investing in cryptocurrency companies lately, including partnership deals with BitPay, Gemini, and Uphold. Those deals range from creating new cards for crypto to testing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) along with programs to grow and support blockchain technology.