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Event Announcement
Before we get to this week’s feature, we are less than one week away from our Tech Carnival in Austin, TX. This is on pace to be one of the biggest events of SXSW week. We planned for this to be big and will be able to accommodate all accepted guests. Sign up here!
Setting the Scene
Banks and financial institutions are increasingly realizing the potential of embracing digital currencies as a new revenue stream.
To accept these transactions, banks face stringent legal and regulatory responsibilities to ensure their platforms aren’t misused for illicit activities.
Yet, many institutions lack the sophisticated tools and knowledge needed to evaluate the safety of cryptocurrency transactions.
Plus, high costs and complexities of existing compliance solutions present significant barriers.
This week’s company equips compliance teams with essential tools for safe crypto asset interaction and regulatory adherence.
In a Sentence
Blockpliance is a platform that arms institutions against illicit blockchain transactions.
Platform: By leveraging AI, the product makes it easy for non-crypto native teams to get real-time risk assessment with better accuracy, at lower cost, and with improved efficiency.
Institutions: Compliance is crucial for banks, card issuers, crypto exchanges or institutions, and public sector entities.
Illicit Transactions: Blockpliance’s algorithm detects for money laundering, human trafficking, terrorist financing, ransomware, scams and other criminal activity.
Bulleted version: In the same way an office’s online firewall filters through employees’ emails to detect and alert HR of inappropriate messages, Blockpliance similarly analyzes the movement of digital money to inform compliance officers of suspicious activity.
The Basics
Industry: Regtech, Big Data, AI
Headquarters: NYC
Year Founded: 2021
Employee Count: 2 FTEs; 4 PT
Investors: HNWIs + Founder’s personal funds
Previously Raised: $125K
Currently Raising: $1.2M (seed) with $200K already committed
Business Model: Enterprise contracts (government and large companies) & SaaS for businesses
Early Traction: Successfully onboarded a government in Latin America, engaged in pilot programs with a state-wide police force and a banking regulator, and partnered with a prominent business
Feats of Strength: Working with IBM, referred 4 cases to international law enforcement in 2023, identified on-chain activity that revealed a $23 billion corruption scheme in Venezuela
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
VCs haven’t stopped investing in early-stage startups — they’ve simply shifted what they are looking for.
When the market gets tough, investors become laser-focused on these key metrics. If you’re a founder looking to fundraise, you should be too.
In this article, Mercury shines a light on the metrics that matter more than ever to investors.
Get the inside scoop and get closer to realizing your startup's ambitions.
Due Diligence
WHAT WE LIKE
Market Opportunity: Global financial crime compliance can cost organizations hundreds of billions with the market expected to grow as more institutions adopt complex blockchain-based systems.
Financial Crime: The fight against financial crime is intensifying, with cryptocurrency’s potential to aid human trafficking, terrorist financing, ransomware, scams and other criminal activity.
Blockpliance offers a crucial solution to bolster the advantages of decentralized currencies while controlling their risks.
Cost Effective: Leveraging AI, Blockpliance provides a cost effective solution compared to traditional compliance methods, reducing the need for extensive manual oversight and thus, lowering operational costs for organizations.
POTENTIAL RISKS
Volatility: Blockpliance hinges on the belief that digital currencies will continue to grow and be integrated into the broader financial system despite the asset’s volatility .
Regulatory: As governments and financial bodies worldwide adjust their policies to keep up with the fast pace of digital currency adoption, Blockpliance must continuously adapt its algorithms and methodologies to remain compliant.
Rising costs: While AI provides Blockpliance with a competitive edge, the soaring popularity and development costs of advanced AI technologies, especially Large Language Models, could escalate operational expenses.
Founder Profile
Guillermo Fernandes, CEO: Previously co-founded Opendemic.org, ran banking operations for a multi-family office, and involved with Bitcoin since 2012.
Donald Patterson, CTO: Previously taught AI/ML at Westmont College and has been a Bitcoin programer since 2011.
To request an introduction to the founder, respond to this email.
Comps
Chainalysis: Backed by Accel, Benchmark, Paradigm, Ribbit, and others.
Elliptic: Backed by JP Morgan, Digital Currency Group, Wells Fargo, SoftBank, and others.
TRM Labs: Backed by Thoma Bravo, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Amex, Bessemer, Y Combinator, and others
Ciphertrace: Acquired by Mastercard in 2021
Why Blockpliance: With the potential to revolutionize cryptocurrency transactions by blocking unsafe asset interactions, Blockpliance is set up for success.
Cast Your Vote
What do you think of Blockpliance?Cast your vote below and tell us why: |
Last Week Today
The results are in: Proto, a digital communication and spatial computing technology company that enables real-time holographic interactions, had mixed reviews in last week’s poll.
Subscriber feedback: “This is truly revolutionary, but is it solving a hair-on-fire problem?”
✍️ Written by Brett