Chainalysis Valued at $8.6B Following $170M Round
- The Series F round has more than doubled Chainalysis’ valuation since last year, which is not surprising considering it has increased its customer base by 75%.
- The company has claimed that its various tools are now responsible for monitoring around $1 trillion worth of transactions each month.
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Crypto investigation and blockchain analytics provider Chainalysis has closed a $170 million Series F funding round that more than doubled its valuation to $8.6 billion, the company said in a press release on 12 May.
According to the announcement, the funding round was led by wealth fund GIC and saw the participation of investors such as Accel, Blackstone, Dragoneer, Bank of New York Mellon, Emergency Capital, and others. The newly acquired funds will not only help Chainalysis enhance its product innovation, but also expand its global operations to meet customer demand. Chainalysis’ CEO and co-founder Michael Gronager said in a statement:
“Over the past year, the cryptocurrency industry crossed into the mainstream with financial institutions entering the space and new technologies like NFTs disrupting traditional markets. Our partners at GIC understand the power of Chainalysis’ data platform and customer network, the strength of our team of leaders, and the market opportunity before us. I’m thrilled to deepen our relationship with their team, especially as we expand our business in the APAC region.”
Chainalysis’ last funding round was held almost a year ago — raising $100 million at the time — and since then the company has experienced a 75% growth, and now serves 750 clients. In the same time frame the company had also expanded its presence to 7o countries, with plans to further invest in regions outside the U.S..
This incredible growth is due to the increased demand for crypto investigatory tools, which is due to crypto hacks, scams, and ransomware attacks grabbing global attention in recent years. Chainalysis has claimed that its various crypto tools are now used to monitor around $1 trillion worth of transactions every month.
As more use cases for crypto emerge, so will the demand for corresponding tools increase. Chainalysis’ most recent development in that regard was the release of an on-chain oracle screening software that helps crypto platforms identify and target malicious wallets and transactions. Last month, Tornado Cash — popular Ethereum mixer, often used to obfuscate transactions connected to hacks — decided to use a Chainalysis tool to block crypto addresses sanctioned by OFAC from using its platform.
- While there are still two weeks to go, Chainalysis data shows October has already become the biggest month for crypto crime, with $718 million being stolen across 11 hacks.
- 2022 was also close to becoming the most profitable year for crypto criminals, with 125 hacks being responsible for the loss of $3 billion.
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- Unnamed sources have said that the company is currently in talks with interested parties to raise at least $100 million in a new funding round.
- The same people noted that Ledger had experienced growth in its business over the past months, as investors turn to cold storage.
- KuCoin’s $150 million pre-Series B funding round was led by Jump Crypto, and increased the valuation of the company to $10 billion.
- KuCoin will use the funds to expand its product offerings, as well as build and invest into DeFi, GameFi, NFT, and crypto wallet platforms.