Fresh from announcing its first investment in a blockchain startup, Alex O’Cinneide, head of Europe at the cybersecurity and technology venture capital firm Paladin Capital Group, talks to Financial News about the deal and his firm's future plans.

Paladin, which has invested in roughly 40 companies in the past decade and counts former leaders at the US National Security Agency among its senior ranks, said on March 21 that it had led a $5 million investment round in Elliptic - a London-based blockchain intelligence firm that uses graph analysis and machine learning to spot illicit activity in blockchain transactions - alongside Santander InnoVentures, Octopus Ventures and others.