Chainalysis acquires AI fraud detection startup Alterya

Chainalysis has acquired the artificial intelligence-powered fraud detection startup Alterya.

The blockchain analytics platform announced the acquisition on Jan. 13, with details in a Business Insider report indicating Chainalysis completed the deal at $150 million. Chainalysis’ announcement did not disclose any financial details.

Alterya’s AI-powered architecture allows it to identify scammers before they reach their victims. The startup is already collaborating with major industry players, including Binance and Coinbase. Through these partnerships, Alterya currently helps monitor over $8 billion in transactions, benefiting more than 100 million end users.

The Tel Aviv-based company raised $9.8 million in a seed funding round that attracted venture capital firms Y Combinator, Battery Ventures, NFX, and Nyca.

The acquisition of Alterya adds to Chainalysis’ recent deal for web3 security platform Hexagate. The company also partnered with financial advisory platform AlixPartners to strengthen its crypto compliance and tracing services.

“With this acquisition, Chainalysis can now provide real-time proactive fraud protection for payments and enhanced fraud detection during KYC for exchanges, blockchains, and wallet providers,” Chainalysis wrote in the blog post.

Chainalysis sees Alterya as a key step in its mission to combat fraud and scams in the crypto industry. In 2024, the sector suffered massive losses of more than $3 billion due to hackers and scammers.

Experts have warned that the increasing use of generative AI by attackers could result in even greater losses. In early December, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation cautioned that scammers are leveraging AI to make crypto-related scams more difficult to detect.

According to the FBI, AI is enabling criminals to generate realistic content on fraudulent sites, making it easier to deceive crypto users.