In another step towards cryptocurrency adoption, Mastercard now plans to acquire CipherTrace– a crypto and blockchain intelligence company aimed at providing anti-money laundering and fraud protection solutions to the digital asset space.
The acquisition will help Mastercard provide transparency to their clients regarding payment and investment across the cryptocurrency industry. This not only helps customers to understand their risks when investing in different assets but will also help ensure Mastercard’s regulatory obligations.
Ajay Bhalla, president of Cyber Intelligence at Mastercard, says that Ciphertrace will build on Mastercard’s existing capabilities to ensure the security of the ecosystem and to protect the blooming industry from being exploited by nefarious actors.
“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. “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.”
Using CipherTrace, Mastercard would be able to monitor fraudulent activity across over 7000+ cryptocurrencies due to the intelligence company’s blockchain data analysis. Dave Jevans, CEO of CipherTrace, says his business “helps keep the crypto economy safe” and that he is “thrilled to join Mastercard,” which will doubtlessly help scale his company’s reach.
The recent acquisition is one piece of Mastercard’s ongoing efforts to increase crypto adoption, providing their customers with a pool of digital payment options that are as diverse as possible.
Just last month, Mastercard partnered with Australian cryptocurrency exchange CoinJar to launch the country’s first crypto-card, allowing users to easily pay for products using cryptocurrency without first converting them into fiat.
Furthermore, Mastercard launched a crypto adoption initiative in July to bolster the growth of startups within the space, aimed at solving pertinent problems plaguing the industry’s growth, including data security and asset tokenization.