Chainalysis raises $170 million: it’s now worth $8.6 billion

Chainalysis is raising investments totaling $170 million, bringing its market value to $ 8.6 billion.

Chainalysis doubles its value

The company offers services to detect and monitor fraud related to the crypto market and thanks to these investments, it has been calculated that its total value would be around $8.6 billion, which is more or less double the previous valuation of last June.

This was revealed by “a person with direct knowledge of the matter” to The Information, also revealing that the investment is led by Singapore‘s sovereign wealth fund, GIC. 

The company is well known in the crypto industry for helping law enforcement several times to track down fraudsters, thieves and stolen funds related to digital assets.

The fact that such frauds are unfortunately relatively common in the crypto industry means that Chainalysis still has excellent growth potential, especially in light of its track record over the years. For example, it recently helped journalist Laura Shin track down the suspected perpetrator of the famous The DAO hack of 2016. 

Singapore in the crypto world

Singapore is at the same time one of the most important Asian financial centers ever, and one of the main headquarters of many Asian crypto operators. 

It had previously raised another $366 million, and in 2020 it opened offices in Singapore and Tokyo to increase its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. It counts government agencies, financial institutions, cybersecurity companies and exchanges among its clients. 

Despite the fact that as of January 2022, the crypto market has entered a downturn, funding for the industry’s players does not appear to have plummeted. For example, in the first quarter of 2022 alone, half as much funding was raised as in the entire year 2021. 

The fact is that there are now real giants in the sector that are able to attract huge volumes of capital. So while there might perhaps be fewer projects able to raise funds, they might be able to raise them in large quantities. 

The crypto market

The crypto sector of 2022 has changed from that of 2020, or 2019, and that change has come about precisely because of the 2021 bullrun. 

On the contrary, in the current phase of lateralization, or true bear market, many small to medium-sized projects that are not very solid are failing, if not even disappearing, leaving a smaller number of projects standing, often medium to large, much more solid and more able to attract capital. 

Therefore, paradoxically, on the one hand it seems to reduce the risk that such capital may be lost or wasted a little, and on the other hand the relatively few large projects that remain see a significant reduction in competition. 

Something similar already happened between 2018 and 2020, with regard to crazy capital raisings via ICOs, many of which failed. Only a relatively small number of projects remained alive, some of which are now also thriving thanks to relatively little competition.