US Marshals Service Issues Information Request on Management of Forfeited Crypto Assets

United States federal law enforcement agency, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), is looking to set up an agent for managing confiscated cryptocurrency, according to public documents released on March 5.

The USMS has recently published two draft documents including a Request for Information (RFI) for legal procedures of the management and disposal of forfeited crypto assets.

As a key component of the department's Asset Forfeiture Program (AFP) operating within the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), the USMS intends to assign an agent or contractor that will manage and dispose of seized or forfeited virtual currency. By initiating the RFI, the USMS expects to improve its current custodial operations by maintaining a complete and accurate accounting of the USMS’ virtual currency inventory.

In the first document, the Performance Work Statement (PWS), the USMS describes the full range of forfeited virtual currency management and disposal services, including general procedures and responsibilities of the contractor.

According to the document, the contractor must ensure the accuracy and security of all virtual currency transactions, including the direct exchange of virtual currencies into U.S. dollars, the exchange into a more liquid form of virtual currency, a return to the owner and others.

The PWS contract includes major activities associated with the management of virtual currencies, including accounting, customer management, audit compliance, managing blockchain forks, wallet creation, transformation of token assets into coin assets and others.

In the second document, the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP), the USMS establishes an evaluation system for the performance of the contractor. The QASP describes major authorities such as Contracting Officer and Contracting Officer’s Representative that are responsible for performance measurement and effective evaluation of the contractor’s compliance.

The USMS noted that the recently issued RFI is provided solely for information and planning purposes and does not represent either a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future.

Last year, the USMS announced a bid auction for approximately 660 confiscated Bitcoins (BTC), with the auction participants required to deposit $200,000 in order to take part.