Crypto custody bank Anchorage Digital will exist providing digital nugget services for the c for seized funds related to federal crimes.

In a Wed announcement from Anchorage, the digital asset platform said the U.Southward. Marshals Service, or USMS, "seized some amount of digital assets in contempo years" which required a partner in the infinite to provide certain financial services. Anchorage will be responsible for custodying, liquidating and other actions as part of the forfeiture process.

Anchorage co-founders Diogo Mónica and Nathan McCauley cited the platform'southward "stringent processes and procedures" as probable factors in the USMS determination.

According to a 2022 proposal, the U.Due south. Marshals' office had been seeking a digital nugget platform capable of accounting, customer management, audit compliance, managing blockchain forks, wallet creation and the transformation of token assets into coin avails. The federal bureau has seized thousands of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrencies, regularly auctioning off the confiscated funds to the public.

Some estimates put the amount of Bitcoin the USMS has seized since 2022 at more than 185,000 BTC — roughly $vii.five billion at the fourth dimension of publication — which includes funds from the at present-defunct marketplace Silk Road. However, other government officials may yet be responsible for crypto seized from DarkSide hackers following a ransom paid for the set on on the Colonial Pipeline system earlier this year.

Related: A legal asset after all? Governments are cashing in on seized crypto

As the first crypto business firm to receive a charter from the U.S. national banking concern regulator in January, Anchorage has steadily expanded into the crypto market. The company raised $80 million in February and later partnered with Prometheum to launch an alternative crypto trading organisation.