CipherTrace, a Mastercard company, has been nominated for the 2026 World AI Awards in the Blockchain category, recognising its work in cryptocurrency intelligence, blockchain analytics and digital asset risk monitoring.
The nomination lands at an interesting point for blockchain. Digital assets are moving closer to mainstream payments and financial services, but the underlying transactions can cross wallets, exchanges and jurisdictions at a speed that makes traditional financial monitoring difficult.
CipherTrace tackles that problem by analysing blockchain activity and connecting transactions with intelligence about cryptocurrency entities. Its technology is designed for banks, cryptocurrency exchanges, financial institutions, governments and investigators that need to understand where digital assets are moving and identify activity that may require closer examination. Mastercard completed its acquisition of CipherTrace in October 2021.
The World AI Awards recognises organisations, individuals, products and technologies contributing to the development and real-world application of artificial intelligence across industries.
Making blockchain transactions easier to investigate
Public blockchains create extensive transaction records. The harder part is understanding what those records actually mean.
A blockchain address by itself says little about the organisation or service behind it. CipherTrace built its cryptocurrency intelligence around analysing large volumes of blockchain transactions and attribution data, helping customers connect activity with cryptocurrency businesses and other entities.
At the time Mastercard announced the acquisition, CipherTrace provided intelligence covering more than 900 cryptocurrencies and analytics associated with more than 7,000 cryptocurrency entities. Mastercard said its customers included major banks, exchanges and other financial institutions.
The practical applications range from anti-money laundering and fraud monitoring to blockchain investigations and regulatory compliance.
This is where analytics matter. Instead of treating every cryptocurrency interaction as equally risky, financial institutions can use blockchain intelligence to examine counterparties, transaction histories and other risk indicators before deciding what needs further investigation.
CipherTrace technology moves inside Mastercard
The Mastercard acquisition pushed CipherTrace beyond standalone blockchain analytics.
In 2022, Mastercard launched Crypto Secure, combining CipherTrace technology and intelligence with Mastercard’s own information to help card issuers evaluate cryptocurrency businesses.
The platform assesses cryptocurrency exchanges and other Virtual Asset Service Providers, giving issuers information they can use when determining the risk associated with crypto purchases. Mastercard said Crypto Secure initially covered a global network of around 2,400 exchanges.
Importantly, the technology does not make every transaction decision automatically. Mastercard described it as a tool that gives issuers better information about risk, leaving them to determine which cryptocurrency transactions they approve.
That distinction is significant. Blockchain intelligence is most useful when it turns an otherwise difficult-to-interpret trail of addresses and transactions into information that compliance and risk teams can actually use.
A real deployment in Latin America’s crypto market
CipherTrace technology has also moved into large consumer-facing cryptocurrency ecosystems.
Mastercard partnered with Mercado Libre in 2022 to bring CipherTrace technology to the company’s cryptocurrency programme in Brazil. Mercado Libre had enabled millions of Mercado Libre and Mercado Pago customers in the country to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies.
CipherTrace technology was introduced to help monitor and identify risks within that environment and support Mercado Libre’s management of compliance obligations.
Mastercard said the technology could assess the risk associated with individual cryptocurrency transactions and assign risk ratings to Virtual Asset Service Providers using established indicators. It also provided crypto tracing capabilities for investigations.
That deployment illustrates the practical challenge CipherTrace addresses. Cryptocurrency services can make digital assets easier to access, but every new connection between conventional finance and blockchain networks creates another point where organisations need to understand who they are interacting with and what risk may be present.
Blockchain intelligence becomes part of a bigger payments strategy
CipherTrace now sits inside a much wider Mastercard digital-assets strategy.
Mastercard’s blockchain activities extend beyond cryptocurrency monitoring into areas including stablecoins, tokenised payments and infrastructure connecting digital assets with conventional financial systems. In March 2026, Mastercard launched a Crypto Partner Program bringing together more than 100 crypto-native companies, payments providers and financial institutions as enterprise use of digital assets expands into areas such as settlement, payouts and cross-border money movement.
CipherTrace’s role is narrower but fundamental: intelligence around the blockchain activity moving through that ecosystem.
As digital assets become connected to established payment infrastructure, simply recording transactions is not enough. Banks, payment companies and cryptocurrency businesses increasingly need tools capable of interpreting blockchain activity and identifying signals that deserve attention.
Graham Cooke, President of the World AI Awards, said:
“CipherTrace’s nomination highlights an important challenge for the blockchain industry: as digital assets become more connected with mainstream finance, organisations need better ways to understand the activity taking place across these networks.
“CipherTrace’s work in blockchain analytics and cryptocurrency intelligence demonstrates how data-driven technology can help financial institutions, exchanges and other organisations investigate transactions and understand digital-asset risk. We congratulate the CipherTrace and Mastercard teams on their 2026 World AI Awards nomination and look forward to following the continued development of this technology.”
CipherTrace joins organisations, researchers, entrepreneurs and technology developers being recognised through the 2026 World AI Awards.
The programme recognises organisations, individuals and technologies contributing to the development and application of artificial intelligence and related data-driven technologies across industries.
CipherTrace’s nomination in the Blockchain category reflects a less visible side of the digital-asset economy. Cryptocurrency markets may be built around decentralised networks, but businesses connecting those networks with conventional finance still need fraud monitoring, investigations and compliance infrastructure.
CipherTrace has spent years building technology around that problem. Under Mastercard, its blockchain intelligence has also become part of a much larger payments and digital-assets ecosystem.
As cryptocurrency, stablecoins and tokenised payments continue moving closer to established financial infrastructure, understanding what happens on-chain may become just as important as enabling the transaction itself.
Learn more about CipherTrace and its blockchain intelligence technology at ciphertrace.com.
Discover the World AI Awards 2026, explore the nominees and learn more about the awards at worldawards.ai.
