CipherTrace provides cryptocurrency intelligence solutions, including blockchain analytics, anti-money laundering (AML), forensics and threat intelligence. In 2021, Mastercard acquired CipherTrace which is now operating as CipherTracers, a Mastercard Company. CipherTracers provides its services to banks, exchanges, regulators, and digital asset businesses to help ensure security and compliance of their digital assets. Additionally, CipherTracers has developed an advanced platform for supporting various applications for transaction monitoring that spans over 900 cryptocurrencies.
CipherTrace was established as a provider of cryptocurrency intelligence solutions focusing on AML compliance and blockchain forensics.
Raised $15 million to increase the breadth of capabilities of its blockchain analytics solutions.
Received $15 million in funding to support the enhancement of its crypto intelligence solutions.
Raised $27.1 million in Series B funding to accelerate CipherTracers product development.
Mastercard acquired CipherTrace to enhance its offerings for protecting consumers from cryptocurrency-based crime and to provide regulatory compliance capabilities for its customers' use of over 900 cryptocurrencies.
Mastercard-backed enterprise infrastructure
Proprietary AI-driven data analytics and algorithms for blockchain transaction attribution and risk scoring
Inferred from product descriptions and acquisition announcements; specific technical details not publicly disclosed
| Service | Cost | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monero Tracing Toolset | $16,000 per year per user | DHS-funded tools for tracing Monero transactions backwards to source, with visualization capabilities. Available to existing CipherTrace users including institutions and government agencies. | Official announcement |
| Enterprise AML Platform | Custom enterprise pricing | Comprehensive cryptocurrency AML compliance solutions for banks, exchanges, and financial institutions with advanced analytics and clustering. | Product descriptions |
| Feature | CipherTrace | Coin Metrics | Scorechain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transaction Monitoring | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| AML Compliance | Yes | No | Yes |
| Blockchain Forensics | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Risk Assessment | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Address Clustering | Yes | — | Yes |
| Visualization Tools | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| API Access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Starting Price | $16K/year (Monero tool) | Custom | Custom |
| Free Tier | No | No | No |
| Enterprise Features | Yes | Yes | Yes |
CipherTrace’s focus is on providing anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, transaction monitoring, and forensic services to financial institutions, while Coin Metrics is focused on providing network data feeds, market data and indexes to support a wider range of cryptographic analytic uses. CipherTrace has more comprehensive coverage of entities than any competitor (over 2,000 cryptocurrencies), and has advanced clustering algorithms and Monero tracing capabilities to support its institutional customers who have significant requirements for AML compliance and forensic investigations.
CipherTrace is used primarily for regulatory compliance and investigations; Coin Metrics is used primarily for market and network data analysis.
While all three companies provide AML and blockchain analytical tools, CipherTrace’s combination of advanced clustering algorithms, Monero tracing capability and its superior entity coverage make it stand out from both of its competitors. Scorechain provides similar compliance tools to those provided by CipherTrace but does not have the same level of specialization in forensic analyses of privacy coins.
CipherTrace is the leader in the area of privacy coin tracing and has the most comprehensive coverage of cryptocurrency entities of any provider.
CipherTrace provides institutional-grade tools to major banks and government agencies, while its competitors such as Blockchain Intelligence Group provide similar tools to investigators but do not have the same level of focus on advanced de-anonymization techniques or the same level of funding to develop the advanced DHS funded privacy coin compliance tools.
CipherTrace is best suited to meet the high stakes compliance needs of institutional users; other providers can be used for more general blockchain investigations.
CipherTrace Provides Analytics Across All Major Blockchains Including Bitcoin, Ethereum & 800+ Tokens. The Platform Offers Cross Chain Transaction Tracing To Track Illicit Fund Flows Between Networks.
CipherTrace Delivers Real Time Transaction Monitoring, Risk Scoring, & VASP Identification—Helps Financial Institutions Detect Crypto Related Transactions & Meets FinCEN/Travel Rule Requirements.
CipherTrace is strong in the area of VASP attribution and entity clustering and has MasterCard as its backer. CipherTrace provides a financial institution compliance focus to Chainalysis's law enforcement investigative focus.
Yes, all of CipherTrace's systems are enterprise grade with SOC 2 compliance and data isolation. All of CipherTrace's systems process all transaction data with encryption and have strict access control over all data in regulatory environments.
Yes, CipherTrace provides crypto intelligence to existing compliance systems through APIs and partnerships such as Alessa so that VASP and Risk Monitoring can be performed seamlessly.
Armada uses Machine Learning to identify transactions from over 600 crypto exchanges and VASPs. This enables banks to find hidden crypto activity that would otherwise go unnoticed by traditional methods of monitoring.
Qualified Financial Institutions will receive trials and a sandbox environment will be provided to test integration with data similar to production.
CipherTrace utilizes machine learning that was trained against a large illicit address database. CipherTrace provides Entity Attribution and reduces False Positives through continuous model updates.
CipherTrace is an enterprise-grade Blockchain Intelligence Platform acquired by MasterCard focused on providing AML Compliance and Transaction Monitoring for Financial Institutions. CipherTrace provides a comprehensive VASP coverage along with cross-chain analytics that make it an important part of any crypto compliance program. CipherTrace's strong regulatory focus makes it well positioned for Institutional Adoption.
CipherTrace is the most popular provider of full-spectrum, crypto-based AML compliance services for banks and VASPs.
CipherTrace (acquired by MasterCard), has a leadership position in crypto AML compliance with over 800 tokens supported, with the ability to monitor in real time and identify VASPs that have used over 600 exchanges. The company uses its tool called Armada to help banks detect hidden transactions involving cryptocurrencies. The company also has the largest number of enterprise partners of all of its competitors who are focused solely on investigations.
Good - detailed capability descriptions from industry analyses and partner announcements. Specific pricing and current support details limited (enterprise sales contact required). Active product inferred from ongoing industry references.
In 2021, MasterCard acquired CipherTrace; enabling the integration of crypto intelligence with their global payments compliance infrastructure. The company now has enhanced distribution through MasterCard's vast network of financial institutions.
CipherTrace provides crypto feeds to leading transaction monitoring systems and works with companies such as Alessa for AML integration and other compliance platforms.
The company has been recognized as the cryptocurrency intelligence leader. Executives from the company have appeared on CNBC discussing the company's ability to track cryptocurrency-related crimes.
Regulatory agencies use CipherTrace for cryptocurrency-related investigations. The company supports law enforcement efforts to trace illicit funds across multiple blockchains.
CipherTrace offers Investigator for forensic analysis, Armada for VASP monitoring, and real-time compliance APIs. CipherTrace covers attribution, risk scoring, and cross-chain analysis.
ScoreChain allows customers to configure their own risk thresholds, while customizing their AML risk score based on the crypto transaction patterns they deem most relevant.
TRM Labs uses real-time transaction monitoring combined with batch transaction analysis capabilities across multiple blockchains.
Crystal Blockchain utilizes advanced machine learning techniques to identify emerging threats and sophisticated patterns indicative of illicit activity.
TRM Labs provides instant alerts based on risk scores as well as regulatory reporting functionality to facilitate investigations.
ScoreChain assigns both transaction and entity risk scores based on the priority of high-risk cryptocurrency addresses and VASPs.
Crystal Blockchain can be easily integrated into existing AML systems for identifying VASPs and gathering crypto related intelligence.
TRM Labs monitors and tracks transactions across over 800+ tokens and multiple blockchain networks, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.
ScoreChain provides risk scoring and screening against known illicit addresses, sanctions lists, and threat databases.
Crystal Blockchain analyzes token transfers and DeFi protocol interactions to identify suspicious patterns.
TRM Labs monitors P2P transactions for crypto exchanges and VASP-related activities.
ScoreChain provides comprehensive coverage and is developing solutions to scale up to meet increasing demands and emerging blockchain networks.
TRM Labs identifies virtual currency transactions flowing through traditional financial institutions.
| Metric Category | Benchmark Level | Evaluation Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Alert Generation Speed | Real-time | Immediate detection of suspicious cryptocurrency transactions and VASP activities |
| Investigation Efficiency | AI-driven reduction | Machine learning clustering and attribution minimizes manual review requirements |
| System Availability | High uptime | Continuous monitoring across global cryptocurrency transaction volumes |
| Data Processing Capacity | 800+ tokens | Multi-chain processing including major exchanges and emerging protocols |
| Regulatory Reporting | Compliance ready | Automated evidence collection for SAR/STR with VASP identification |
| Pattern Detection Latency | Real-time ML | Advanced algorithms identify emerging threats and money laundering patterns instantly |
