Today, blockchain data platform Chainalysis announced it has raised $170 million as part of a series F funding round led by GIC, a sovereign wealth fund in Singapore. The funding brings the organization’s valuation to $8.6 billion and will enable it to enhance its crypto fraud detection platform and scale global operations.
Chainalysis’ platform provides crypto exchanges, enterprises and government agencies with automated transaction monitoring, risk management and business intelligence analytics they can use to spot crypto fraud and money laundering.
The use of blockchain analytics and transaction monitoring increases visibility over cryptocurrency transactions so that cryptocurrency businesses can identify criminal activity, block the transactions and comply with the necessary regulations.
Spotting fraud in a decentralized economy
The announcement comes as researchers estimate the global blockchain market will grow from $4.67 billion in 2021 to $163.83 billion by 2029 spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid advancement of digital ledger technology.
“Over the past year, the cryptocurrency industry crossed into the mainstream with financial institutions entering the space and new technologies like NFTs disrupting traditional markets,” said Michael Gronager, cofounder and CEO of Chainalysis.
Chainalysis’ answer to spotting fraud in an increasingly decentralized economy is to provide blockchain analytics so that enterprises can better understand how customers use cryptocurrency. This will not only help identify fraud but may also offer insights into how to enhance the customer experience.
The top blockchain analytics providers
Chainalysis claims it is one of the fastest-growing blockchain monitoring solutions on the market, now screening an average of $1 trillion worth of cryptocurrency transactions per month. The company has hired more than 450 new employees in the past year to reach a total headcount of 700.
However, the organization isn’t the only provider that’s using analytics to help exchanges and enterprises identify crypto fraud.
One of Chainalysis’ key competitors is Elliptic, a blockchain analytics provider that can monitor more than 500 crypto assets for signs of fraudulent activity. The organization recently raised $60 million as part of a series C funding round and claims that 66% of total crypto volume runs through exchanges using Elliptic.
Another competitor in the space, TRM Labs, is a digital asset and risk management provider that monitors crypto transactions with cross-chain analytics. Its tools enable users to monitor funds as they move from one cryptocurrency to another, such as from Bitcoin to Ethereum or another blockchain.
TRM supports upwards of 900,000 digital assets across 23 blockchains and recently raised $60 million as part of a series B funding round in December 2021.
Now, Chainalysis is aiming to differentiate itself from these providers by expanding the dataset its intelligence solution uses. The organization recently deepened its coverage to support DeFi identifications that include 100% coverage of the top 15 DEX liquidity pools, while also covering lending and oracle protocols and yield-aggregators.
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