Crypto Anti-Money Laundering Specialist Notabene Raises $14.5M

As an analyst with a keen eye for trends and a deep understanding of the global financial landscape, I find Notabene’s recent Series B funding round intriguing. The company’s focus on compliance in the crypto space is not just timely but essential given the increasing regulatory scrutiny worldwide.

To clarify, Notabene – a business specializing in aiding cryptocurrency trading companies to adhere to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations – has secured $14.5 million for its Series B funding round. This round was headed by DRW Venture Capital, with additional investments from funds managed by Apollo, Nextblock, ParaFi Capital, and Wintermute.

To align cryptocurrencies with traditional finance, the global anti-money laundering organization, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has proposed guidelines – often referred to as the “Travel Rule” – for regulatory bodies. These guidelines suggest that crypto businesses such as exchanges, wallet providers, and payment processors must share secure details about the originator and beneficiary of transactions among themselves.

Striving to serve as a cryptocurrency equivalent to SWIFT, Notabene’s influence is expanding, currently being utilized by 165 companies worldwide, among them prominent global virtual asset service providers like Copper, OKX, and Ramp.

By the year-end, Notabene’s CEO, Pelle Braendgaard, anticipates a surge in daily transactions, amounting to approximately $2 billion, due to the approaching deadline for businesses to abide by the updated Transfer of Funds Regulation (TFR) in Europe, which now includes cryptocurrency transactions.

According to Braendgaard, EU companies will need to disclose if they aren’t obtaining travel-related information from a significant, unregulated offshore platform. This move is essentially driving the industry towards global compliance. In other words, these European rules aren’t solely focused on the EU; instead, they aim to establish a harmonious global system in this specific area.

In the United States, Braendgaard anticipates a faster implementation of travel rule guidelines under the incoming Trump administration, mirroring the pace set during his previous term, with the aim of attracting the travel industry back into the country.

According to Braendgaard, the European Commission aims to have all crypto trading occurring within the EU through the TFR and MiCA regulations. Similarly, I suspect the U.S. will adopt a similar strategy because it seems inappropriate for them to be sending substantial funds overseas.

Additionally, it should be noted that the Series B funding round of Notabene was participated in by established investors such as CMT Digital, F-Prime, Green Visor Capital, Illuminate Financial, Jump Capital, Signature Ventures, and Y Combinator.