Mastercard Acquires CipherTrace to Monitor Cryptocurrencies

Recently, Mastercard closed a deal to acquire crypto intelligence startup CipherTrace. The platform plans to focus on detecting fraud, driving innovation, and expanding its crypto strategy. The acquisition will go through by the end of the year, but they are yet to disclose any terms. Meanwhile, its shares were up 0.6% after the announcement.

Mastercard Can Benefit from Cipher’s Data Analytics

Launched in 2015, CipherTrace has its headquarters in Silicon Valley. It gathers information for more than 900 cryptocurrencies. This information assists users in improving security. In addition, fraud detection for crypto-related programs and transactions. The company’s top competitors include Chainalysis and Elliptic.

Ajay Bhalla, Mastercard president, commented on the purchase. He said that the fast-growing digital asset environment depends on trust and security. Consequently, the aim is to build on the complementing skills of CipherTrace.

In addition, digital assets can rethink trade, pay, and enable payments to revolutionize economies from everyday activities. In turn, this makes businesses more equitable and efficient.

Roo's All-In Giveaway, $300,000 in Prizes!

Both cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are getting more use cases in day-to-day uses. According to the release, the more the adoption, the more security measures are in place. With such security measures, there is more trust to use the crypto space benefits freely. 

CipherTrace analytics will also help payment companies alongside their partners to bring crypto innovation. Mastercard is already developing a crypto strategy for the processing of card payments. 

Growing Interest in the Crypto Market

The acquisition is the latest indicator of the growth of interest in the crypto sector among significant companies. Mastercard itself indicated it would open its network for some cryptos this year. So far, it has partnered with Uphold, Gemini, and Bitpay to develop crypto cards.

Visa recently said that the consumer spends more than one billion dollars on its crypto-linked payment cards. The amount is more than twice compared to last year and 2019. People are exploring more ways to use crypto, like regular currencies. Even though there is high volatility, that is for the owners to manage and track.

Bitcoin is trading at $46,507, down almost 6.22% from a week ago. On Tuesday, El Salvador approved it as a legal tender. Shortly after, the most significant digital coin in the world crashed drastically.

Cryptocurrencies supporters see this move as a way to take the asset class more broadly. The bitcoin rollout of El Salvador did not come as easy as many think. El Salvador’s official Bitcoin wallet momentarily disabled its servers to enhance their capacity.

Btc

Bitcoin

$26.425
price

0.7623%
price change

TRADE NOW

The move by El Salvador might not be the last we see. Governments are warming up to the idea, considering that it is a cheaper method of transacting money. Also, it efficiently covers more people without access to banking services.