Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is intensifying its investment in blockchain intelligence technology alongside other investigative platforms. A notice of intent on a government procurement website reveals that this Department of Homeland Security (DHS) component plans to acquire additional technology from TRM Labs, a firm specializing in crypto risk management and offering a wide range of forensic services to government clients. This week, ICE also announced its intention to sole source similar technology from Chainalysis amid multiple planned acquisitions of other digital forensics tools. Both Chainalysis and TRM Labs have extensive contracts with federal agencies, including the FBI, State Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Internal Revenue Service. By signaling its intention to single source technology from TRM and Chainalysis, ICE suggests that no other providers can reasonably deliver equivalent services. The agency also expects to procure tools from Magnet Forensics, another federal contractor, and is purchasing licenses from the digital forensics company Volexity. Although blockchain transactions are frequently transparent, identifying the individuals involved can be challenging. To address this, several companies such as Chainalysis, Elliptic, and CipherBlade have shifted focus toward providing analytics services to government clients.

ICE did not respond to requests for comment by the deadline. Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs, declined to comment on specific dealings but noted that DHS-related work generally involves examining transnational criminal organizations potentially employing cryptocurrency for activities like financing terrorism and human trafficking. He mentioned that human smugglers on the U. S. -Mexico border have begun using cryptocurrency to avoid detection. Analytics tools help trace these cryptocurrency transactions, even when “the actors are using obfuscation tactics or attempting to cash out through non-compliant exchanges, ” he explained. “Agencies focused on border security increasingly rely on this technology to uncover the financial infrastructure behind organized criminal enterprises and prevent proceeds from fueling further crime or reaching sanctioned jurisdictions, ” Redbord added. “In immigration enforcement, this might involve flagging crypto payments linked to smuggling routes or identifying the digital financial infrastructure supporting human exploitation networks. ” A representative from Volexity stated that their software assists customers—including government IT teams, media organizations, NGOs, and others—in analyzing potential nation-state targeting, but it does not concentrate on blockchain investigations. The representative was unable to provide information regarding the timing of ICE’s procurement posting.