A former key executive at the United States Department of the Treasury has joined a major cryptocurrency investigation firm, Chainalysis.
Sigal Mandelker, a former Treasury Under Secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, has reportedly joined Chainalysis’ board of advisors. As officially announced on July 7, the new position on the startup’s board comes alongside Mandelker’s participation in a Chainalysis’ extended $49 million Series B funding round.
Mandelker to share blockchain investigation experience with Chainalysis
As reported by Forbes, the new position on the board marks Mandelker’s first public work since she left Trump’s White House for the private sector in October 2019. At the startup, the former Treasury exec will meet with the Chainalysis team to share insights on investigating crypto crimes as well as help them build new partnerships in both the public and private sectors.
Chainalysis is a major crypto analytics firm and a primary source of crypto transaction data for federal agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI. Addressing the company’s broad cooperation scope, Mandelker highlighted that further development will be crucial for the future of the industry. She said:
“The fact that they’re building relationships, terrific relationships, both with financial institutions and with the government sector, including with law enforcement, is going to be really important for the future of this industry.”
Mandelker is known for her 2019 crypto investigations involving three hacker groups that helped the North Korean government launder billions of dollars in cryptocurrency funds. According to official records, the former Treasury exec also played a role in convicting an illicit digital currency platform known as “E-Gold” back in 2008.
Michael Gronager, co-founder and CEO at Chainalysis, told Cointelegraph that Mandelker’s entrance to Chainalysis will contribute to further adoption of the crypto industry. He said:
“We believe that by getting regulators and law enforcement comfortable with cryptocurrency, financial institutions will more meaningfully invest in the space and cryptocurrency businesses will grow. Sigal brings a wealth of knowledge from her time at the Treasury Department to help us propel this flywheel of growth for the industry.”
Chainalysis expands Series B to $49M after raising $36M in 2019
The news comes alongside Chainalysis expanding its Series B to $49 million after raising $36M in February 2019 from companies including venture capital giant Accel. The fresh $13M investment featured participation from venture capital firm Ribbit Capital, which invested in major crypto startups like Coinbase and Robinhood. Mandelker reportedly joined Ribbit Capital as general partner earlier in 2020.
The new additional fundraising also included investment from Sound Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by actor Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary. In May 2020, Kutcher and Oseary also invested in major Bitcoin (BTC) rewards company Lolli.