In the 11 years since the inception of the crypto industry, malicious parties have used digital assets for a spate of illegal activities, from drug payments to coin laundering. Blockchain analytics house Chainalysis is launching a new service to help authorities track, custody and sell cryptocurrencies associated with criminal offense after their capture. The firm calls the initiative its Asset Realization Program.

"Chainalysis created an end-to-end solution for track and trace, pre-seizure planning, handling, storing, realising, and monitoring avails seized past law enforcement," Chainalysis' general managing director of the European, Center Eastern and African region, Duncan Hoffman, told Cointelegraph.

With its new programme, Chainalysis aims to aid clients in a number of ways, including filing and selling confiscated digital funds, bringing closure to the one time-illegally-used assets and legally flowing them back into the ecosystem, based on Hoffman's comments.

A number of minor and high-profile crimes accept involved cryptocurrencies in recent years, including hacks, terrorist financing and other events.

Near recently, about $ane billion of crypto funds connected with Silk Route, an infamous drug operation close down seven years ago, moved wallet accost locations. The United States Department of Justice subsequently filed to wrest control of the funds from an identified hacker, which explains the wallet address motion. Chainalysis worked with authorities on the example, according to a statement from Chainalysis provided to Cointelegraph.

Chainalysis' Asset Realization Program targets employ by government agencies, equally well every bit insolvency practitioners — players that represent insolvent entities — although the plan is also open to other interested folks.

As office of the initiative, Chainalysis teamed up with Asset Reality, a visitor already working in the confiscated-asset niche. The house volition piece of work with Chainalysis on multiple processes, including the sale of confiscated funds.

Governments accept stepped up their engagement with crypto in 2020, getting more than confident in enforcement.