US Marshals Service Hires Custodian to Hold Crypto Seized in Criminal Activity

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Yuriko Nakao | Getty Images

The US Marshals Service, one of the Justice Department’s main law enforcement agencies, has hired custodian Anchorage Digital for cryptocurrency seized or confiscated in various criminal cases.

The Marshals Service has spent over a year researching a custodian and financial services provider for its seized crypto stock. The contract had already been awarded to BitGo, which was acquired in May by Galaxy Digital.

The agency’s asset forfeiture division removes financial incentives for criminal operations, which often also include real estate, artwork, vehicles, jewelry, and cash.

Anchorage will provide custody and liquidation services, which could include accounting, client management, blockchain fork management, transforming token assets into monetary assets as well as future actions associated with the virtual currency forfeiture process. USMS.

“Critical and reliable infrastructure will be the most important factor in a stable crypto asset class,” Anchorage Digital president and co-founder Diogo Monica told CNBC.

The agency has been auctioning bitcoin since at least 2014. In addition to investing in dozens of crypto start-ups, much of the bitcoin fortune of venture capitalist Tim Draper came from winning the auction. US Marshals Service’s 2014 release of 30,000 bitcoins confiscated from the defunct Silk Road.

The Marshals Service has seized and sold over 185,000 bitcoins worth over $ 7.2 billion since around 2014. It recently auctioned 4,040 bitcoins in early 2020.

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