Elliptic Monitoring Finds over $400M in XRP Tied to Illicit Activities

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Elliptic Monitoring Finds over $400M in XRP Tied to Illicit Activities

by Mary Brendah - 04:38 PM Nov 20, 2019

elliptic-monitoring-finds-over-400m-in-xrp-tied-to-illicit-activities

The London-based blockchain forensics company, Elliptic has launched the first system to monitor transactions in XRP, the currency of the Ripple payment network. From today, businesses and financial institutions can systematically monitor XRP transactions for links to criminal activity This will help ensure compliance with AML (anti money laundering) regulations.

According to a research by the startup, there are over $400 million of illicit XRP transactions. However, this constitutes only 0.2 per cent of total XRP activity, demonstrating that the vast majority of transactions are legitimate, the startup said.

Elliptic cofounder Tom Robinson said that the startup’s tools; would form a cornerstone for cryptocurrency compliance policies globally; and that XRP was generating traction in the APAC region among financial institutions and banks.

Moreover, unlike bitcoin, whose illegal activities are usually dark net related, a notable proportion of XRP-related illegal activities are scams and Ponzi schemes, according to Robinson. Robinson said this difference is likely due to XRP’s popularity among retail users.

“With cryptocurrency regulatory frameworks advancing quickly, our AML solutions will help accelerate adoption in this region and globally,” he said.

High Customer Demand for XRP

In addition, Due to the unique structure of XRP blockchain, when compared to Bitcoin's and Ethereum's blockchains; it took Elliptic a long time to deploy the monitoring solution. However, there is a high customer demand for XRP and the token’s high exchange trading volumes; made it an “obvious” choice for Elliptic to support, according to Robinson.

In conclusion, The firm’s XRP monitoring solution is currently in beta testing. The official support will launch in the first week of December. Additionally, Elliptic recently raised a $23 million Series B led by Japan’s SBI Holdings to expand into the Asia market, where Ripple is popular. Meanwhile, rival Chainalysis is also looking to add support for XRP soon. The firm aims to cover a total of 48 tokens by the end of the year.

#AML #Bitcoin (BTC) #Crypto News #Cryptocurrency #cryptocurrency fraud #Cryptocurrency News #ripple #Ripple (XRP)

About The Author

Mary BrendahMy first love is music – then goes writing. I don’t write fiction, I analyze bulls and bears in markets. I call it my jungle, the digital jungle of crypto and chains.