Just a few hours after Kraken secured the first Wyoming banking license granted to a cryptocurrency firm, Blockchain intelligence platform Chainalysis has onboarded the state regulator.
Chainalysis and the Western state’s Division of Banking, the banking regulator responsible for the chartering and supervision of state banks, have teamed up to combat money laundering, sanctions violations, and other criminal activities that use digital assets.
Wyoming's watchdog will leverage Chainalysis solutions to verify the state banks' compliance with anti-money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act, know-your-customer and sanctions requirements. Additionally, it will employ Chainalysis tools to help federal and state law enforcement agencies conduct regular transaction testing and monitoring.
Moreover, Chainalysis is selling its bitcoin-tracing technology and compliance software to banks and brokers to monitor and link digital identities to Cryptocurrencies .
"Wyoming was the first U.S. jurisdiction to authorize banks to conduct digital asset activities in 2019. Chainalysis equips my office with the tools we need to ensure our banks are conducting deposit-taking, custody and fiduciary activities with digital assets in a safe and sound manner," said Albert Forkner, Wyoming Banking Commissioner.
Over the last two years, Wyoming passed sweeping regulations that seek to legalize and formalize various aspects of the cryptocurrency business. Now, the state already has a comprehensive framework and supervisory process in place for cryptobanking licenses, which does not exist elsewhere.
NY Advocates Run through Wyoming
Earlier this year, the state regulator began taking applications to charter a new type of crypto-friendly bank. Shortly after, Kraken alongside a handful of firms have indicated their intent to apply.
This trend is expected to gather more steam as Wyoming’s push allows cryptocurrency exchanges and other players to get around New York’s coveted but hard-to-get BitLicense.
These developments have created greater appeal for Chainalysis’ compliance software, which helps both crypto firms and law enforcement agencies detect suspicious activity in order to battle any related criminal activity. It uses pattern recognition, algorithms, and millions of open source references to identify and categorize thousands of cryptocurrency services to raise live alerts on transactions involved in suspicious activity.
Chainalysis’s team of data scientists and programmers are leveraging a wide range of quantitative data sources, including cryptocurrency exchanges and blockchain data sources, to clarify and present the view of the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem.
Furthermore, the company has launched a new data-driven portal that offers comprehensive tracking of cryptocurrencies worldwide under the ‘Market Intel’ brand name. Leveraging its various data repositories, the new website, which caters to asset managers and regulators, will be publishing live data and insights on cryptocurrency use, and 'the health and growth of cryptocurrency markets'.
