Merkle Science hires former U.S. Attorney as President, Americas

By Edlyn Cardoza

Merkle Science, a leading predictive blockchain monitoring and investigative platform, recently announced accelerated global expansion with a major focus on the United States to meet the increasing market demand for its products and services. To support the company’s ambitious goals, Merkle Science appointed former U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan as President, Americas, and Global Chief Legal Officer.

“This is an exciting time for Merkle Science. We have seen strong demand in the U.S., especially from law enforcement and financial institutions. Institutional interest in cryptocurrencies and the associated compliance frameworks has surged over the past six months in the U.S., prompting us to accelerate our expansion into the market,” said Merkle Science Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mriganka Pattnaik. “We’re excited to have Mary Beth join our team as her deep industry experience — including executive positions at leading crypto brands Bitstamp and Kraken — and expert insights will prove invaluable to our expansion and beyond.”

Unlike other blockchain monitoring and investigative tools on the market, Merkle Science’s platform takes a behavior-based approach to transaction risk management, resulting in more proactive and effective crime monitoring and investigations. The behavior-based approach enables Merkle Science’s intelligence platform to evolve with crypto-related criminal activity, simplifying crypto compliance and ultimately allowing businesses to focus on their core competencies.

“Merkle Science’s vision of crypto assets as a key pillar of the financial ecosystem deeply resonates with me,” said Mary Beth Buchanan, President, Americas, and Global Chief Legal Officer. “When I began representing companies in the crypto space back in 2013, there was no clear pathway for crypto companies to reach and maintain compliance. I saw first-hand the importance of regulatory clarity and the key role it plays in supporting innovation in emerging technologies. We’re at a critical juncture in the U.S. where we can implement smart regulations that encourage digital transformation and protect consumers. As part of the Merkle Science team, I am inspired to build the next generation of financial safeguards and help crypto companies scale and mature, so that a full range of individuals, entities, and services may safely transact with crypto.”

To address market demand and continue to bolster the company’s momentum, Merkle Science will prioritize accelerating product development to serve enterprise segments such as law enforcement agencies and financial institutions, continue evolving Behavior-based Rule Engine to meet the rise of privacy protocols, rapidly expand Merkle Science’s token coverage to over 500,000 tokens and customize solutions for decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFT platforms.

“Merkle Science is the leading solution in Asia for crypto platforms to prevent fraud,” noted Jehan Chu, Co-founder & Managing Partner at Kenetic Capital. “With cutting-edge algorithms honed from years of experience at Paypal, the team at Merkle Science is redefining on-chain risk analytics. We, at Kenetic, are excited to continue supporting Merkle Science as they expand internationally to the US and beyond.”

Merkle Science has grown from strength to strength, achieving a dominating presence in the APAC region since its seed round in May 2019.  With clients across APAC, Europe, and North America, Merkle Science has grown its revenue by over 900% and its headcount has tripled in size over the past two years. In the past six months, institutional interest for cryptocurrencies and compliance in the US has surged, which has prompted both the co-founders to move their base to New York as part of Merkle Science’s expansion plans.

In the first week of September, the total value of assets locked in DeFi reached nearly $100 billion USD. The world’s largest institutional finance players, such as Standard Chartered, Fidelity, Citibank, and BNY Mellon, continue to increase their investment into crypto and expand their Bitcoin-related offerings. Meanwhile, crypto-related illicit activity such as ransomware has taken center stage, with SEC Chairman Gary Gensler pushing for increased regulatory oversight on crypto trading platforms. Merkle Science’s intelligence platform evolves with crypto-related criminal activity, simplifying crypto compliance and ultimately allowing businesses to focus on their core competencies.