Anchorage Digital will manage cryptocurrencies seized by US marshals

Anchorage Digital cryptocurrency custodian will present digital asset providers to the U.S. Governors Service for federal prison collections.

In an announcement from Anchorage on Wednesday, the digital asset platform introduced that the US Marshals Service (USMS) “has seized a number of digital assets in recent years” in an try to discover a companion to supply sure monetary providers. Anchorage is chargeable for custody, liquidation, and different actions associated to the forfeiture course of.

Anchorage co-founders, Diogo Monica and Nathan McCauley, cited the platform’s “rigorous processes and procedures” as a doable issue behind the USMS’s choice.

According to a 2019 proposal, the U.S. governor’s workplace was searching for a digital asset platform able to managing bookkeeping, shopper administration, compliance audits, blockchain forks, creating wallets, and transferring funds. The federal company has seized 1000’s of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and different cryptocurrencies and frequently auctioned the seized funds to the general public.

Some estimates put the quantity of Bitcoin the USMS has seized since 2014 at greater than 185,000 BTC – round $ 7.5 billion on the time of publication – together with funds from the now defunct Silk Road market. However, different authorities officers should still be chargeable for the cryptocurrency that was seized by DarkSide hackers after paying a ransom earlier this yr for attacking the Colonial Pipeline system.

Related: A reputable property in spite of everything? Governments gather money from seized cryptocurrencies

As the primary cryptocurrency firm to obtain its constitution from the US nationwide banking regulator in January, Anchorage has progressively expanded into the cryptocurrency market. The firm raised $ 80 million in February and later partnered with Prometheum to launch another cryptocurrency trading system.