Navin Gupta, the freshly appointed CEO of Crystal Intelligence, anticipates the continued expansion of the blockchain intelligence firm throughout 2024.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Gupta expressed his anticipation for the company’s growth to further escalate as the unregulated sector of the crypto industry diminishes.
This shift is attributed to the endorsement of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. Gupta stated:
“Hundreds of firms were waiting in the license queue, and they are in some form of regulatory discussion with the regulator to ensure that they get licensed.
Every single firm that gets regulated needs compliance software, monitoring, and to prove to the regulator that they are doing Anti-Money Laundering compliance…”
Crystal Intelligence provides blockchain analysis and investigative and compliance solutions to institutions and regulators.
The company’s global clientele doubled during 2023, with Crystal’s product now overseeing over 50,000 organizations, as per a press release shared with Cointelegraph.
The company was established by Bitfury in 2017.
According to Gupta, the escalating adoption of stablecoins is also expected to amplify the demand for Crystal’s compliance services.
“[Stablecoin payments] are cross-border transfers of value.
So, there’s the same Travel Rule that most transaction monitoring rules need to be applied, which brings a new swath of customers who want to accept or pay through stablecoins.”
Stablecoins are the most broadly utilised crypto assets, constituting over 50% of on-chain transaction volume to or from centralised services between July 2022 and June 2023, as per “The Chainalysis 2023 Geography of Cryptocurrency” report.
Gupta believes that the recently introduced spot Bitcoin ETFs will usher in a consistent influx of non-speculative investment for the first time in Bitcoin’s history, thereby legitimising the asset class in the eyes of global regulatory authorities.
Gupta noted that institutional investors have already begun viewing the asset class more favourably.
“[Institutional adoption] is already happening. BlackRock manages trillions of dollars, and Bitcoin is a very small part of it. But they’ve already dipped their toes in the water, and the same is true for regulators.”
Gupta anticipates this to motivate ETF issuers like BlackRock to introduce additional funds:
“BlackRock does that; the peers have to do it. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle moving forward. So, we are very bullish about this space.”
An estimated 75% of new Bitcoin investments come from the 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs, as stated in a report by on-chain data analytics firm CryptoQuant.
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