Cambridge Blockchain announced the formation of a new subsidiary to accelerate European deployments of the company’s digital identity compliance software for financial institutions. The new company, Cambridge Blockchain SAS, is based at the Partech Shaker startup campus in Paris and becomes the first company outside of Luxembourg to join the Infrachain Blockchain initiative.
Since the financial crisis, the world’s largest banks have paid more than $321 billion in fines, with total compliance spending topping $270 billion annually.
“Thanks to the support of Partech Ventures and Infrachain, we are positioned to tackle the banking industry’s greatest threat: the cost of regulatory compliance,” said Matthew Commons, CEO of Cambridge Blockchain. “It’s exciting to consider how our technology not only aligns with our European partners, but serves as a catalyst to solve some of the most complex regulatory challenges facing financial institutions.”
Financial institutions face growing compliance challenges related to identity, with know-your-customer costs that can reach up to $500 million per year for large banks. Strict data privacy rules such as the European General Data Protection Regulation also limit the ability to access validated customer identity attributes, with potential fines up to €20 million or 4% of annual revenues.
Cambridge Blockchain’s distributed architecture resolves the competing challenges of transparency and privacy, resulting in faster customer onboarding, lower costs, and enhanced compliance through a single, trusted and consistent view of customer reference data.
By joining Infrachain Asbl, Cambridge Blockchain extends the reach of the pioneering nonprofit Blockchain organization into France.
“We are very proud to have Cambridge Blockchain join Infrachain as we create a pan-European community accelerating the adoption of Blockchain technology,” remarked Marco Houwen, Project Lead of Infrachain. “Infrachain acts as an orchestration platform between Blockchain applications and a European network of independent certified nodes. We look forward to bridging the gap between the not-yet-compliant public Blockchains and the centralized regulatory environment.”
“We are pleased to see Cambridge Blockchain launch its European operations just a few months after our investment,” explained Romain Lavault, General Partner at Partech Ventures. “Thanks to our ‘Europe Made Easy’ support program for foreign entrepreneurs, the Partech Shaker is the perfect place to hire top employees, connect with a highly international startup ecosystem and do business with major corporates from all industries.”
