SEC highlights Binance Chain transaction tracing in new contract notice

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that it intends to award a contract to blockchain analytics firm CipherTrace, pointing to its intention to track Binance Chain transactions.

In a notice published Wednesday, the SEC said CipherTrace is the only known firm that supports Binance's native blockchain and all tokens issued on it, including Binance Coin (BNB). The notice was first reported by CoinDesk.

A Binance spokesperson told The Block that Binance Chain is a "community-driven software system launched by Binance and community contributors" and that it's a "public blockchain. All transactions are public."

The SEC said it would award the contract to CipherTrace on or before July 31. The contract would initially be of one year with four one-year option periods.

The total value of the contract is yet to be determined. CipherTrace CEO Dave Jevans told The Block: "As the blockchain ecosystem continues to mature, investors and regulators across the globe demand better transparency, security, and compliance."

CipherTrace added support for Binance Chain in November 2019. Jevans said CipherTrace's clients, including regulators, can "browse the Binance Chain blockchain, identify high-risk addresses and set controls to protect decentralized applications (DApps), exchanges, or other cryptocurrency-based applications."

Binance itself started using CipherTrace tools in April 2019 to enhance its anti-money laundering compliance program. In fact, Binance also uses CipherTrace rivals Chainalysis and Elliptic's solutions to trace high-risk transactions. 

Update: This story has been updated to include comments from CipherTrace CEO Dave Jevans