US Marshals Service has given a $6.6M+ contract to crypto startup Anchorage to manage seized crypto assets; BitGo had won a similar $4.5M contract in April
The U.S. Marshals Service, a branch of the Department of Justice charged with tracking down fugitives, has given a contract worth …
Context & Ripple Effects
In April, the U.S. Marshals Service handed BitGo a $4.5M contract to manage seized cryptocurrencies, making custody of DOJ-confiscated coins a paid federal line item for the first time among these vendors. Three months later, the agency has awarded Anchorage a larger $6.6M+ contract for the same job — so instead of one custodian holding the franchise, two qualified custodians now split it.
That matters because custody sits directly upstream of the Marshals' core seizure business: the service has for years sold off hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency forfeited by federal agencies, as Fortune traced back in its explainer on how the USMS ends up selling seized troves at auction. Whoever holds the assets between confiscation and auction is doing mission-critical work for DOJ.
First-order effects
- Anchorage enters seized-asset custody alongside BitGo, converting a single-vendor arrangement into a two-supplier program at the Marshals Service.
- BitGo loses the exclusive position it gained in April's award; its federal custody business becomes a competitive account it must defend rather than a locked-in franchise.
Second-order effects
- Other federally qualified custodians now have proof the USMS pays market-rate contracts for this work, inviting more bids and downward pressure on custody pricing in the next solicitation.
- A federal custody track record becomes a marketing asset: both Anchorage and BitGo can cite DOJ-grade compliance when courting institutional clients weighing regulated custodians.
Third-order effects
- Seized-crypto custody is hardening into a recurring federal procurement category rather than an ad-hoc need, pushing vendors to compete on compliance credentials and audit history instead of price alone.
- If the multi-vendor pattern holds, agencies managing large forfeiture inventories will likely standardize around rotating or framework custodian contracts — making government custody a durable revenue base for qualified crypto firms.
The trend: Federal law enforcement is turning confiscated-crypto custody into recurring outsourced procurement, with multiple qualified custodians splitting what began as a single-vendor niche.