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Below is our recent interview with Lance Morginn, CEO and Co-Founder at Blockchain Intelligence Group:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Blockchain Intelligence Group?
A: We’re known as BIG, and we bring security and accountability to the new era of cryptocurrency. We’re a Vancouver, Canada, based company that was formed in January of 2015 and went public Dec 6, 2017 trading in Canada, US and in Germany.
Q: Can you give us insights into your Services?
A: We developed from the ground up a Blockchain-agnostic search and analytics engine called QLUE™, enabling RegTech, Law Enforcement, Government Agencies and the financial sector to visually track, trace and monitor cryptocurrency transactions at a forensic level.
Our financial service, BitRank Verified®, offers a “risk score” for Bitcoin wallets/transactions, enabling, banks, BTMs (like ATMs), exchanges and retailers to meet traditional regulatory/compliance requirements in this new era of money. Think of it as a Fico score or credit score but instead the score is based on a number of factors: where you received your crypto funds, how you spent your crypto funds, have you been seen on the dark markets, have you moved your money through a mixing service to try to launder your funds . . . these are just a few of the factors our algorithm looks at when determining a risk score for a wallet/address.
And then, headquartered in the heart of Washington D.C. is our Forensics Services Division, which provides investigative services to Law Enforcement, Law Firms, FinTech companies and individuals. We have already worked on a number of cases and expect this division to continue to be in great demand.
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Q: You’ve recently signed a client agreement with bitcoin miner, Veden; could you tell us something more?
A: Veden has partnered with BIG to use our cryptocurrency risk-scoring service, BitRank Verified®, to enhance Veden’s KYC (Know Your Customer) protocol for its ICO (Initial Coin Offering). It has been the wild west in the ICO space for some time and, depending on the country in question, regulations have been or will be implemented. Veden also recognizes investors and regulators care about the sources of funds going into a company’s ICO offering. They want to make sure the funds have not been involved in any illicit activity, and this is exactly the type of security and accountability that our services make possible for our clients and their customers.
Q: Why did you create the Cryptocurrency Investigator Certification Course? Can you tell us a bit more about it?
A: We have some of the best industry experts on staff that have been providing onsite training for larger groups. Robert Whitaker from US Homeland Security with 23 years in Law Enforcement and Teresa Anaya with 25 years in the financial industry. What we noticed with our last year’s interactions with clients and prospects globally was they were needing education. Education on the basics to start, but then really digging into the dark web and how to investigate crypto crimes and use services such as ours to perform their corporate and or regulatory duties.
Q: Do you see blockchain technology as a global game changer and why?
A: Blockchain as a database replacement is a game changer based on its ability to be an immutable ledger without the possibility for double spend. This disruptive technology will undoubtedly provide significant cost reductions, accelerate the turnaround of documents, reduce internal and external fraud for larger corporations, and allow them to identify operational deficiencies that otherwise would not be known. When it comes to the first use case of blockchain being cryptocurrencies, this is again going to be a global game changer based on its ability to change the way our financial system has been operating for centuries. It is near real-time, low fees, brings a global currency to the world’s 2 billion unbanked, and offers greater clarity than fiat money when it comes to the movement of funds.
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Q: How is your company different than your competitors?
A: It’s our data. Our data, both on chain and off chain, and the granularity of information is what sets BIG apart, and this is what provides our competitive advantage. We also offer the most comprehensive suite of services found in the world – from compliance to forensic data analytics, professional investigation services and training – which is important because larger organizations tell us they prefer to use a company that can deliver on all aspects of their business needs rather than having to deal with multiple companies. Our unique data set has allowed us to essentially write the crypto-compliance book that will no doubt be in high demand.
Q: What are your plans going forward?
A: We will continue enhancing our data and become the global standard for crypto compliance and forensics. And as always, we’ll strive to exceed our clients’ expectations and deliver world class service.
