Share this article
Compliance Platform Sardine Closes $19.5M Funding Round to Eliminate Fishy Crypto Transactions
A16z, NYCA and Experian joined in the capital raise for the San Francisco startup.
By Brandy Betz
Updated May 11, 2023, 7:18 p.m. Published Feb 10, 2022, 7:30 p.m.
Sardine, a fraud and compliance platform for fintechs, raised $19.5 million in a Series A round that included Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), NYCA and Experian Ventures, the company announced Thursday.
The capital will be used for product development and hiring aggressively in the coming months.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
As part of the investment, a16z General Partner Angela Strange will join the Sardine board of directors.
San Francisco-based Sardine uses artificial intelligence to provide a real-time fraud score based on a user’s identity, device and behavior patterns at the time of account origination and account funding. The platform checks for fraud during each login, deposit and withdrawal.
The Sardine platform has now added instant bank Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers for crypto on-ramps, removing the traditional three to seven-day waiting period for consumers to gain access to their funds. Sardine assumes the fraud, regulatory compliance and legal risks of the ACH transactions.
Sardine launched last spring and has since grown to over 50 customers, including neobank Brex, crypto exchanges FTX and Bakkt and crypto platforms MoonPay and Candy Digital.
Sardine CEO Soups Ranjan previously ran data science and risk at Coinbase. The Sardine team also includes veterans of Google Pay, Revolut, Bolt and PayPal.
“Every company with a payments component faces the same problem: the momentum-killing wait time between when the customer transfers money to your platform and when they can actually use that money on your service to transact,” said a16z’s Strange in the press release. “Sardine solves this issue in order to keep financial transactions moving for the good of all. Its value proposition becomes even clearer when you consider that every company is rapidly becoming a fintech company.”
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Tom Lee urges BitMine shareholders to approve share increase ahead of January 14 vote
The chairman of the former bitcoin miner-turned-ether treasury firm reiterated his view that Ethereum is the future of finance.
What to know:
- Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine Immersion (BMNR), urged shareholders to approve an increase in the company's authorized share count from 500 million to 50 billion.
- Lee assured shareholders that the increase is not intended to dilute shares, but instead to enable capital raising, dealmaking, and future share splits.
- Shareholders have until January 14 to vote on the proposal, with the annual meeting scheduled for January 15 in Las Vegas.
Top Stories
