Step into the crypto world, worry-free, because Chainalysis made sure you’re in it for a smooth ride!

Bitcoin and blockchain are increasingly familiar terms you will nowadays come across in the mainstream economy narrative. However, one lingering question still holds some people back - is cryptocurrency safe?

Building a strong cybersecurity network is the most efficient way to enhance the global climate of trust in blockchains. Many institutions that work to fight illicit cryptocurrency activity - such as businesses, law enforcement agencies, and regulators - need further assistance and professional upgrade in their policies.

Jan Moller, Jonathan Levin, and Michael Gronager founded Chainalysis in 2014 in New York with the purpose of offering required software and data to government agencies, financial institutions, and cybersecurity brands in more than 60 countries.

Continue reading the story of 3 enthusiastic people that wanted to bring some trustworthiness into the emerging world of cryptocurrencies.

Portrait of the Entrepreneurs as Young Men

Behind the idea of Chainalysis, there are three exceptional entrepreneurs’ names - Jan Moller, Jonathan Levin, and Michael Gronager. As young men, each of them had a rich academic journey that foreshadowed the successful years to come.

Jan Moller nurtured an interest in tech innovation since the formative years of his academic education. The future entrepreneur graduated and afterward acquired an M.Sc degree in Computer Science from the University of Aarhus.

Jonathan Levin started his academic journey at the University of Bristol, where he got a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with 1st class honors in 2012. After that, he mastered philosophy at the University of Oxford in 2014.

Jonathan was also actively involved in activities and societies during his student years. He coordinated the first student-run social enterprise conference in Bristol and became head of the steering committee dedicated to creating awareness strategies for ethical and environmental issues. In addition to that, as vice-president of the British Jewish Society, Jonathan wrote and co-hosted a Muslim-Jewish radio program for Salaam Shalom Media.

Finally, Michael Gronager has got a Ph.D. in Quantum Mechanics and a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering.

Previous Career Paths

Apart from their extensive educational backgrounds, the three innovators all have admirable professional portfolios.

Jan Moller started climbing the career ladder as a student programmer promoted to system engineer, to a senior system/software architect, and finally principal engineer at Mycelium in 2013.

During his years in Kamstrup, Valor, and Cryptomathic, Jan took part in several projects where he collaborated with customers, giving his best to acknowledge their problems and come up with system solutions for them. Moller has also worked as a lead developer in small, hard-working teams that put his ideas into practice on time. Working on many IT projects, from their very beginning to the moment customers receive the desired product, has given Jan invaluable insight into the problem area.

After completing his formal education in economics, Jonathan Levin considered entrepreneurship the most effective way to use his knowledge in his career. Before Chainalysis, his first project was an internationally recognized brand by the name of Coinometrics, which became a sales pipeline for successful Bitcoin companies around the world.

What inspired Michael Gronager for the idea of Chainalysis is the struggles that the cryptocurrency field was facing in the financial system. Michael had a lot of valuable experience with big scientific data projects and crypto theory from the industry’s beginnings, so he decided to use this insight to develop the data platform which became the basis of Chainalysis products.

Before teaming up with Jonathan and Jan, Michael co-founded and served as COO of Kraken, the cryptocurrency exchange company.

The Birth of a Tech Security Giant

Jonathan, Jan, and Michael founded Chainalysis in 2014 as a blockchain data platform meant to offer data, software, and research services to financial institutions, exchanges, government agencies, exchanges, and cybersecurity companies in more than 60 countries.

In this company, experts in economic analysis and financial crime provide valuable insights for the most acclaimed businesses, banks, and governments. By raising the criteria for cryptocurrency investigation and compliance solutions, the founders gradually increase the trust in blockchains every day.

The data generated at Chainalysis includes investigation, compliance, and market intelligence software employed in solving some of the most complicated criminal cases worldwide and ensuring safe consumer access to cryptocurrency.

The Chainalysis team is aware of the great impact cryptocurrencies have on the expansion and increased fairness of the global economy, but the company also acknowledges the lack of trust and transparency that the crypto industry needs to overcome.

This platform’s purpose is to support and extend the ongoing growth of cryptocurrency by establishing straightforward regulations, enforcing standard audit practices, and implementing effective compliance controls. By offering these tools to businesses, banks, and governments, Chainalysis aims to provide the knowledge and relevance needed for the rise of the new digital economy.

Honesty, enthusiasm, and innovation are the main pillars of Chainalysis’ vision. The company is dedicated to creating solutions for complex problems and helping the cryptocurrency economy thrive by making it more trustworthy.

Reeling in Investors and Capital

2021 was a fruitful year for Chainalysis. The leading blockchain data platform acquired $100 million in capital from the Series D funding round in March. Since then, crucial industry veterans have joined the company’s leadership team, such as Atlassian's Pratima Agora, who became CPO of Chainalysis, Sarah Ward, who had previously served as General Counsel in SiSense, and director of Cyber Intelligence, Rob Bone.

However, before securing its financial future, Chainalysis had to face fierce competition coming from companies like Nansen, TRM Labs, and Elliptic, among others.

Later that year, Chainalysis secured another major funding round - the Series E investment worth $100 million led by Coatue, which raised the company’s revenue at mind-boggling $4.2 billion. Other contributors to this round include previous investors such as Durable Capital Partners, Addition, Dragoneer, Accel, and 9Yards Capital. This investment round also brought new investors in Chainalysis, such as Blackstone, Sequoia Heritage, Pictet, Altimeter, GIC, and SVB Capital.

The brand is backed up by a group of loyal investors with a strong reputation on the market. For instance, Coatue is an acclaimed international investment firm dedicated to high-growth investments in the public and private sphere of the media, technology, and telecommunications industry. Benchmark is a famous early-stage venture capital firm that helps local, social, mobile, and cloud companies thrive.

Other supporting investment firms partnered with Chainalysis include Paradigm, a platform specialized in boosting prosperous crypto companies’ capital, and Accel - a successful venture capital company that cooperates with outstanding entrepreneurs in growing their brands, from the moment of launching through every phase of the company’s growth.

The Future of Blockchain is Now

As of today, Chainalysis employs approximately 500 people and is headquartered in New York.

The rapid growth of cryptocurrency in the mainstream and the dramatic increase in the demand for it go hand in hand with security threats, such as harmful ransomware. The expert team of Chainalysis is aware of this trend and aims to help government agencies that deal with cybercrime as well as cryptocurrency exchanges that seek a competitive edge.

Blockchain research and data are essential for public and private sector organizations to grasp the opportunities and risks of cryptocurrency and promote its safe, responsible adoption. The mission of Chainalysis as a leading data platform is to tackle cybersecurity in the blockchain from various angles.

In the future, the platform plans to deepen its data advantage by including more cryptocurrencies and introducing a Global Intelligence function for more efficient identification and response to potential threats. Another priority of Chainalysis is providing the public and private sector teams with consistent, shared understanding by offering top-notch software solutions.

By gaining direct access to Chainalysis data through APIs, government agencies, cryptocurrency exchanges, and financial institutions are likely to make better, safer decisions. This is how Chainalysis constantly changes the cryptocurrency narrative for the better and increases the public’s trust in the blockchain.

Who knows, maybe we’ll wake up one day and see a whole new world of cryptocurrencies, so it won’t hurt to keep an eye on Chainalysys!