Bitcoin Daily: Chainalysis Raises $100 Million; Q2 Holdings To Allow For Crypto Buying; Met Makes $114 Million Crypto Seizure; Citi Debuts Crypto Division

Chainalysis has raised $100 million in a Series E funding round, according to a press release.

The company’s value is now sitting at $4.2 billion.

Chainalysis is known for its work in the crypto industry, making it so that government agencies and other such entities have the capacity to track cryptocurrency-related crime and fraud.

With the new funding, Chainalysis will work on covering more cryptocurrencies, developing collaborative tools and giving direct access to Chainalysis tools via APIs, so governments can combine the company’s data with other things in order to boost decision making.

Digital banking platform Q2 Holdings will now allow for the buying, selling and holding of bitcoin after a partnership with NYDIG, which works in bitcoin-related tech and finances, a press release says.

“According to a December 2020 study by Cornerstone Advisors, 15 percent of U.S. consumers own bitcoin or some other form of cryptocurrency,” said Jonathan Price, EVP of emerging business and corporate and business development at Q2. “The consumer survey also revealed that the majority of these crypto owners would use their banks to invest in cryptocurrency if they had the choice to do so. We are excited to work with NYDIG to enable financial institutions to take advantage of this market opportunity and meet the demands of their account holders.”

The U.K.’s Met has made what is now likely the biggest seizure of cryptocurrency, with $114 million taken, a report from the police says.

The seizure happened after reports about illegal money transfers.

According to Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty, while cash is still big, the new technology like crypto is now more often used for illicit activities.

“There is an inherent link between money and violence,” he said. “Violence is used to extort, blackmail, burgle, control and exploit. It’s used to protect criminal profits and maintain control of territories.”

Citi has debuted a new unit dedicated to digital assets and blockchain, a report from The Block Crypto says.

The new group is called Digital Assets Group, and a memo says the reason for its creation was the myriad new things happening involving cryptocurrency. This makes Citi now the biggest bank to get into wealth management.