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Bitcoin Blockchain Surveillance Firm Elliptic Raises $5M in Series A Funding

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Samburaj Das
Last Updated

London-based Bitcoin Blockchain surveillance and forensic compliance intelligence startup Elliptic has secured $5 million in a Series A funding round led by Paladin Capital Group. The round also gained support from Santander InnoVentures, KRW Schindler, Digital Currency Group and existing investor, Octopus Ventures.

A press release  by Elliptic has announced that the firm has raised $5 million in Series A funding round. The new capital, according to the announcement will help enable Elliptic to further strengthen its position as a leading player in blockchain compliance, fraud detection and investigations technology.

London-based Elliptic was a startup originally founded as a bitcoin cold storage solution which later gained a significant financial accreditation by KMPG in 2015. Now, the firm offers blockchain intelligence tools using graph analysis and machine learning to study and detect illicit activity in the bitcoin blockchain. Elliptic’s software solutions also employs artificial intelligence to scan the Bitcoin network to identify and trace suspicious behavior to then trace it back to its source.

The release further claimed that Elliptic’s compliance and fraud detection technology, used by major US and European bitcoin exchanges and payment processors have assessed over $2 billion worth of Bitcoin transactions on the Blockchain.

Paladin Capital, the leading investor in the funding round counts retired Lieutenant General Kenneth Minihan as its managing director, who spoke about the implementation of Elliptic’s blockchain surveillance tools in US law enforcement agencies. In a statement, he opined:

Elliptic has demonstrated a powerful working product that can combat illicit activity on blockchains. Elliptic is a game-changer for blockchain and is already trusted by some of the smartest minds in law enforcement and compliance.

Notably, Elliptic’s solutions can be implemented in any blockchain including the Bitcoin Blockchain. Such applicability can leverage Elliptic’s software solutions to be used by blockchain endeavors that are currently being overseen by major global financial institutions. Minihan added:

We recognize that the firm’s monitoring capability will be an essential component of any blockchain in the future and we will help Elliptic to expand in the US, via our contacts and knowledge of US law enforcement and government agencies.

In a nod toward one of its investors – Spanish banking giant Santander – Elliptic co-founder Dr. James Smith further opined that big banks that are interested in blockchain technology will be targeted as possible clients while stating that the Bitcoin Blockchain needs to be more accessible and transparent for the world to embrace the cryptocurrency and its technology.

Speaking to The Telegraph , he stated:

People realize that if Bitcoin and Blockchain is going to be taken serious, you have to start acting like the rest of the world.

Furthermore, Dr. Smith added that the new funding round, with its investors will help scale Elliptic with its expansion plans.

Our new investors bring deep expertise in law enforcement, international financial services, and blockchain technology and we are excited to work with them on our next phase of growth. We have already been able to expand operations to the US and will continue to extend our portfolio of products.

Elliptic’s funding round comes during a time when regulators and law enforcement authorities actively seek to end anonymity of Bitcoin trades. Earlier this year, the European Commission – the executive arm of the European Union – proposed a new action plan along with several amendments to the Anti Money Laundering Directive (AMLD).

The proposal, made in February, stated:

The Commission proposes to bring virtual currency exchange platforms under the scope of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, so that these platforms have to apply customer due diligence controls when exchanging virtual for real currencies, ending the anonymity associated with such exchanges.

Featured image from Shutterstock.