Fighting Ransomware: Chainalysis Acquires Cyber-Security Firm Excygent

Chainalysis, a blockchain data analytics and security platform have announced its acquisition of cybercrime investigative company Excygent, bolstering the former firm’s push to combat ransomware attacks.

Known to aid regulatory agencies and other interested parties in tracking cybercriminals, Excygent will boost Chainalysis’s digital currency transaction monitoring efforts.

The provisions of tracking tools to peek into the anonymity of transactions through blockchain networks have become central to the unconditional embrace of cryptocurrencies by most regulatory bodies worldwide. It is drawing on the excuse of digital currencies being used for illicit activities such as ransom payment during cyber data thefts and hacks, amongst others. With the tools Chainalysis is building, more government agencies will find more comfort in rolling out futuristic regulations for the nascent industry.

“Cybercrime like ransomware is one of the biggest barriers to building trust in cryptocurrency,” said Michael Gronager, Co-founder and CEO, Chainalysis. “The expertise brought by the Excygent team directly aligns with our mission to leverage the transparency of blockchains to weed out bad actors from the ecosystem and ultimately promote more financial freedom with less risk.”

The duo of Chainalysis and Excygent have worked together in the past with government agencies to support the most significant virtual currency investigations in recent history. One of these historic endeavours was in resolving the hacking against Twitter that saw the accounts of over 130 prominent people, including the U.S. President Joe Biden, hacked last year.

Based on this history, integrating both company’s technology will not be an arduous task.

“The Excygent team has been leveraging Chainalysis technology and working alongside their team to tackle some of the most significant investigations into cryptocurrency crime in recent years,” said Aaron Bice, Excygent, LLC. “If you’re committed to creating a safer ecosystem for cryptocurrency participants, Chainalysis is the team to be. We are thrilled to join the world’s leading blockchain data platform and to continue to grow their services and technology offering to government agencies.”