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Crypto analytics and illicit activity tracker Elliptic raised over $60 million in their latest Series-C funding round.
Elliptic’s latest funding round included big name investors such as Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, SoftBank, and Evolution. The firm also attracted some of Europe’s biggest tech investors Octopus and AlbionVC.
These funds will go towards scalability of research and development for the Elliptic platform and team expansion. In addition, the company plans a global expansion to offer services in more regions, according to a blog post.
Currently, the company works through “a range of techniques, from machine learning to infiltration of darknet marketplaces, we have built the ‘identity layer’ for blockchains.” Elliptic logs signals, entities, and events and converts findings into data for risk insight for transactions, wallets and large institutions.
Investors in Elliptic, such as SoftBank can be seen with investments in other major crypto and blockchain centric companies. These include Bullish crypto exchange and Sorare.
As the industry becomes more mainstream with adoption from major global enterprises, so does blockchain security and regulation compliance. Elliptic’s recent investments demonstrate increased attention to such subjects from an institutional level, via some of the world’s most attentive investors.
Recently, Coinbase struck a deal with Homeland Security for licensing of their Coinbase analytics. In a similar vein, Coinbase Analytics connects cryptocurrency transactions to “real-world entities” for investigations on fraudulent blockchain activity. Such developments point at only big league interest, but a similarly large need.
Illicit industry activity
The crypto industry is under increasing scrutiny as global regulators mull over regulations. In doing so, prosecutors are cracking down on fraud and illegal offerings in the space.
Moreover in the UK, a group of legal professionals formed the first ever “Crypto Fraud and Asset Recovery” group. This group of experts intends for the development and sharing of best practices to deal with fraud and recovery disputes. Only a day later, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority warned in-country social platforms about “fraudulent crypto ads”.
Dubai police’s “Virtual Asset Crime Section” plans cooperation with crypto exchange BitOasis for the development of regulations for digital assets. This comes in a fraud reduction effort after a number of P2P platforms were the target of crypto scams.
Additionally, regulators in the U.S. are vehemently cracking down on crypto companies. Last month crypto platform Kraken received a $1.25 million fine from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. According to officials the exchange participated in illegal offerings within the U.S.
As the crypto industry continues its expansion into mainstream spaces, there will be an increase in opportunities for fraudulent activities. From major regulators to everyday investors the urgency crypto security is a growing priority.
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