Bank completed a pilot with Elliptic, a cryptocurrency risk management firm, to report suspicious crypto activity
Blockchain analytics and compliance firm Elliptic announced yesterday that it worked with Banco Santander to help the bank better understand risks associated with digital assets. The pilot concluded yesterday, during which Elliptic assisted Santander in identifying suspicious cryptocurrency activity.
Santander is regarded as one of the more blockchain-friendly banks and has published educational materials about cryptocurrencies for its customers. Last year Santander became the first bank in the United Kingdom to use Ripple to build a real-time cross-border payments system.
Elliptic — in which Mouro Capital, a fintech venture capital firm backed by Santander, invested in 2016 — deployed its Discovery solution to detect transactions between Santander customers and cryptocurrency exchanges. The software analyzes those transactions to assess Santander’s indirect exposure to digital assets.
Simone Maini, CEO of Elliptic, commented: “This pilot demonstrates Elliptic’s commitment to helping financial institutions understand their exposure to crypto assets and mitigate money laundering risk in cryptocurrencies. This successful exercise is strong evidence that working with Elliptic enables leading organisations to navigate the rapidly evolving crypto ecosystem with confidence.”
Discovery was developed in collaboration with financial institutions to meet their growing crypto-related needs. It can identify legitimate crypto businesses and flag illicit cryptocurrency activity, helping institutions spot both opportunities and risks.
Discovery performs counterparty risk assessments on cryptocurrency exchanges using advanced blockchain analysis and offers the most comprehensive coverage of virtual asset service providers (VASPs), with risk profiles for more than 200 of the world’s largest VASPs.
The solution covers 97% of cryptocurrency transaction volume and is built on an extensive dataset of more than 10 billion data points. Discovery assigns each VASP an Elliptic score that enables robust risk evaluation.
Manuel Silva Martinez, general partner at Mouro Capital, added: “Elliptic is one of our earliest investments and is an excellent partner in navigating the complexities of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and the crypto world. We are pleased to see Elliptic’s technology working with Santander to better understand and protect the bank’s business and customers.”