Wells Fargo invests $5M in blockchain analytics firm Elliptic

Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, an investing division of the third-largest U.S. bank, has injected $5 million in blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.

The fresh capital brings Elliptic’s total series B funding to $28 million, according to a statement shared with The Block on Thursday. The firm raised $23 million last September.

Elliptic looks to expand in Asia and hire resources to sell its newly launched Discovery solution, which helps banks to decide which crypto exchanges to do business with.

“At the moment, most banks cannot distinguish between compliant exchanges and those that pose money laundering or sanctions risks. Elliptic Discovery will allow them to instead take a risk-based approach, and use our insights and data to identify those crypto exchanges that they can safely do business with,” Tom Robinson, co-founder and chief scientist at Elliptic, told The Block recently. 

Wells Fargo is the first U.S. bank that has invested in Elliptic. Last September, Japanese banking group SBI Holdings led Elliptic’s $23 million round, and Spanish bank Santander is also an investor in the firm via its InnoVentures unit.

Today’s investment brings Elliptic’s total funding to date to $40 million.