Mastercard moves further in the crypto game with acquisition of intelligence firm CipherTrace
By Gaia Lamperti
Mastercard’s latest investment will help the company accelerate and expand its crypto-related strategy. The payment giant has filed an agreement to buy digital asset intelligence firm CipherTrace which has insights into more than 900 cryptocurrencies.
As digital currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), become more and more mainstream and start affecting our everyday payments and investments, trust and security will be critical enablers to ensure broad adoption and scale.
Mastercard’s integrated offering will build on CipherTrace’s suite of digital assets and cybersecurity solutions to provide businesses with greater transparency to help identify and understand their risks and manage their digital asset regulatory and compliance obligations.
“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,” said Ajay Bhalla, President of Cyber & Intelligence at Mastercard. “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.”
The deal will enable Mastercard to combine the technology, AI, and cyber capabilities of both companies to differentiate its card and real-time payments infrastructure, allowing customers and stakeholders globally to protect their consumers and comply with regulations, as they build their own virtual asset offerings. These new powerful solutions are becoming essential in ensuring that the crypto economy is instilled with the same trust and peace of mind that consumers currently experience with more traditional payment methods.
CipherTrace’s powerful intelligence helps customers enhance their security and fraud monitoring activities for crypto-related programs. The firm already provides solutions for some of the largest banks, exchanges, and other financial institutions in the world due to its industry-leading data analytics and algorithms to help customers convert on their opportunities across 7,000+ cryptocurrency entities.
Dave Jevans, CEO of CipherTrace, explained: “We help companies, whether they are banks or cryptocurrency exchanges, government regulators or law enforcement, to keep the crypto economy safe. Our two companies share this vision to provide security and trust throughout the ecosystem. We are thrilled to join the Mastercard family to scale CipherTrace’s reach across the globe.”
CipherTrace also helps to drive continued innovation with a diverse range of partners, like FinTechs, crypto-wallet providers, and governments, while also allowing Mastercard to deliver on the principles it has established for all blockchain-related programs.
The acquisition is part of Mastercard’s strategy in the digital assets space to help provide customers, merchants and businesses with more choice in how they move digital value. It follows a number of investments the company recently made, including partnerships with Uphold, Gemini and BitPay to create crypto cards, the creation of new platforms to test and support Central Bank Digital Currencies, programs to support the broader use of blockchain technology and NFTs, and the potential to support select stablecoins directly on its network.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and the transaction is anticipated to close before the end of the year, pending certain conditions.
IBSi FinTech Journal
- Most trusted FinTech journal since 1991
- Digital monthly issue
- 60+ pages of research, analysis, interviews, opinions, and rankings
- Global coverage