The U.S. Marshals Service, a primary law enforcement agency of
the Department of Justice (DOJ), has hired a new custodian for its
seized cryptocurrencies. The agency has seized and auctioned off over
185K bitcoins so far.
- The United States Marshals Service (USMS) has selected Anchorage
Digital to provide custody for cryptocurrencies seized in criminal
cases, the crypto custody firm announced Wednesday. - The USMS is one of the primary law enforcement agencies of the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ). It was also the first federal law
enforcement agency in the country. - Anchorage explained:
This award means that Anchorage will be responsible for providing a full suite of cryptocurrency services.
- The services include “custody, liquidation, and such activities as
accounting, customer management, audit compliance, managing blockchain
forks, wallet creation, transformation of token assets into coin assets,
etc., as well as future actions associated with the virtual currency
forfeiture process,” the company detailed.
- Prior to hiring Anchorage, the USMS awarded the crypto custody contract to Bitgo
in April, after spending more than a year seeking a custodian and
financial services provider for its stockpile of seized crypto assets.
Bitgo was acquired by Galaxy Digital in May. It is not clear why the DOJ
decided to use Anchorage instead of Bitgo to custody seized
cryptocurrencies. - According to CNBC, the Marshals Service has confiscated and sold
more than 185,000 bitcoins worth more than $7.2 billion since about
2014. Venture capitalist Tim Draper won the USMS auction of 30,000
confiscated bitcoins from the now-defunct Silk Road in 2014. - The Marshals Service’s most recent bitcoin auction was in February last year when more than 4,041 BTC were auctioned.
- source link: https://news.bitcoin.com/us-marshals-service-hires-custodian-seized-cryptocurrencies-over-185k-btc-confiscated-sold-so-far/
