Monat: September 2022

DARPA will fund Inca Digital’s research in a project expected to lead to an analytics tool that will help map crypto’s impact and threats to US national security.  

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a research and innovation agency at the US Department of Defense, has contracted crypto intelligence and analytics firm Inca Digital to help map the potential impact of digital assets on national security.

DARPA contracts Inca Digital on crypto project

On Friday, Inca Digital revealed that DARPA had, through the crypto firm’s government contracting arm Inca Digital Federal, awarded it a contract to research and develop crypto analytics and visualisation tool to map various implications of crypto financial applications.

Specifically, the agency’s collaboration with Inca Digital will be through a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, according to the announcement, and will see the firm help DARPA develop a “first-of-its-kind” crypto mapping tool.

The advanced analytics tool will then be deployed towards the analysis and understanding of the dynamics around crypto finance and potential threats to national security.

“Digital asset markets hold amazing promise, but also contend with money laundering, market manipulation, and state actors that may pose risks to US national security,” said Adam Zarazinski, the Chief Executive Officer of Inca Digital.

DARPA, other US government agencies and commercial companies will use the data analytics offered by Inca Digital to among other things get insight into how blockchain-based technologies are linked to illicit activities such as money laundering, sanctions evasion and terrorist financing. 

The tool will also help various regulatory groups and firms understand money flows within the crypto ecosystem.

“Given the increasing prevalence of digital assets, the Department of Defense and other federal agencies need to have better tools to understand how digital assets operate and how to leverage their jurisdictional authority over digital asset markets globally,” Zarazinski added.

DARPA will fund the project, which is dubbed “Mapping the Impact of Digital Financial Assets”.

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The acquisition will see Coinsquare have over $350 million assets under custody.

Coinsquare, currently Canada’s oldest operating cryptocurrency exchange and one of the largest in the country, is making further expansion moves with a fresh acquisition.

This is after the crypto exchange moved to acquire Canadian-headquartered digital assets trading platform CoinSmart in a deal agreed on 22 September 2022.

According to the two firms, Coinsquare has struck a definitive agreement with the registered securities dealer to acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of Simply Digital Technologies, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CoinSmart.

“This acquisition represents a monumental and exciting milestone for both companies and brings together two industry leading management teams,” said Martin Piszel, CEO of Coinsquare. 

CoinSmart founders to join Coinsquare

Under the terms of acquisition, CoinSmart will receive $3 million in cash and 5,222,222 Coinsquare shares valued at about $5.02 per share for a total of roughly $26.2 million. In addition, CoinSmart could receive an extra of up to $20 million pegged on the company’s SmartPay business revenue outlay over three years.

Once finalised, the cash and stock deal will see CoinSmart hold about 12% stake in Coinsquare, and its co-founders including Justin Hartzman, Jeremy Koven, and Michael Koralamongst will join Coinsquare. 

Hartzman, CEO of CoinSmart, will join Coinsquare’s executive team.

Coinsquare’s acquisition of the digital asset platform adds to its position as one of the largest crypto exchanges in Canada. The company launched in 2014 and this expansion sees it acquire the only qualified crypto custody provider in the country.

“With a diversified product suite, exceptional crypto talent, and one of the largest user bases in Canada, the combined company will be well-positioned to pursue its aggressive expansion plans,” said Hartzman.

As well as adding to its growing customer base and crypto offerings, the deal also gives the combined venture also sees it hold $350 million in assets under custody.

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