UPDATED 23:00 EDT / SEPTEMBER 03 2019

BLOCKCHAIN

Cryptocurrency surveillance startup Elliptic raises $23M for Asia expansion, Libra support

Cryptocurrency surveillance startup Elliptic Enterprises Ltd. said today it has raised $23 million in new funding to fuel its expansion into Asia.

The expansion will include new offices in Japan and Singapore as well as to accelerate product support for asset-backed cryptocurrencies such as Facebook Inc.’s Libra. The Series B round was led by SBI Holdings and included existing investors including Signalfire and Santander Innoventures.

Founded in 2013 originally as a bitcoin storage solution, Elliptic today offers a cryptocurrency surveillance service for law enforcement and companies that aims to make cryptocurrency transaction activity more transparent and accountable.

The company uses artificial intelligence to explore cryptocurrency networks for patterns of suspicious transactions and activity and allows users to detect unusual transactions and track their origin. For companies, this includes compliance with anti-money-laundering rules along with the ability to identify fraudulent accounts, links to web marketplaces and proceeds of thefts.

On the investigative side, Elliptic can trace hidden criminal activity on the dark web and other shady parts of the internet by tracking where cryptocurrency transactions go. In addition, the company offers a team of researchers and analysts in what it describes as an “additional layer to our commercial software” to provide custom analyses with the added benefit of human experience.

Elliptic’s platform is used by more than 100 crypto businesses and financial institutions worldwide to manage their financial crime risk, with Elliptic screening billions of dollars in transactions every day for links to illicit activity.

The company’s continued expansion into Asia, where it claims it has already had 10 times revenue growth in the last 12 months, comes well backed by SBI Holdings. SBI, a financial services group that was spun off from SoftBank Holdings Inc., is not only an existing Elliptic customer but a significant player in the cryptocurrency business as well in partnership with Ripple Labs Inc. through SBI Ripple Asia. SBI Chief Executive Officer Yoshiaka Kitao sits on Ripple’s board.

“We believe it no longer makes sense to think of a clear divide between the crypto economy and the wider financial system,” James Smith, co-founder and CEO of Elliptic, said in a statement. “Financial institutions can no longer ignore the risks and opportunities presented by crypto-assets and we are there to support them. Elliptic’s work to enable trust, transparency and accountability within this space has played a critical role in the push beyond cryptocurrency’s experimental phase.”

Including the new round, Elliptic has raised $35 million to date.

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