Chainalysis to help government store and sell seized crypto

Chainalysis launched a program that would help government agencies store and sell forfeited cryptocurrencies.

The blockchain intelligence and surveillance company Chainalysis announced that it had launched a program that would help government agencies and insolvency practitioners sell seized cryptocurrencies.

According to the official announcement, the new program would serve to recover, store, monitor and sell cryptocurrencies that have been seized by law enforcement officers. Chainalysis added that the need for digital asset realisation services is increasing as law enforcement agencies continue to crack down on illegal activity involving cryptocurrencies globally.

Chainalysis will work with Asset Reality to effectively manage the new program. Asset Reality manages and realises seized assets for private and public sector clients globally. The two companies will partner to help determine how to sell the seized and forfeited cryptocurrencies. Asset Reality has an experienced team of legal and law enforcement practitioners that would offer strategic advisory services and training on cryptocurrencies and other complex asset classes to law enforcement agencies worldwide.

The blockchain analysis company explained that when government agencies discover and investigate illicit cryptocurrency assets, they seize and store them until they are legally forfeited. After seizing the assets, government officials and insolvency practitioners need a safe way to monitor, store and ultimately sell the cryptocurrencies for fiat currencies.

The new program by Chainalysis will help law enforcement with the storage and recovery services they need. This latest development comes after the largest seizure of cryptocurrencies by the United States government last week, worth over $1 billion.

Chainalysis tools and investigative services helped the agencies identify and investigate the crypto wallets used in the fraud. Some of the funds were used (or were intended to be used) to support narcotics sales on the darknet marketplace, Silk Road.

Jason Bonds, Chief Revenue Officer, Chainalysis, noted that “As cryptocurrencies become more mainstream, they will increasingly be used by good and bad actors alike. Chainalysis is dedicated to building trust in digital assets, and that means helping to detect and investigate illicit activity. As our government partners become more successful in rooting out bad actors, assisting them with asset recovery and realisation is a natural next step”.

Chainalysis is launching this program to respond to the Department of Justice and the US Marshal Service seeking help in storing and selling seized cryptocurrencies. Law enforcement agencies globally continue to struggle to store, track and sell forfeited cryptocurrencies, mainly due to their limited understanding of the new asset class.