The U.S. government regulatory agency has recommended reforms to the way the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation Division handles digital assets, pointing out its repeated failures to follow established protocols.
In a report released on Tuesday, the Treasury Department's Office of Tax Administration Inspector General stated that its assessment of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI) found deficiencies in the seizure and safeguarding of digital assets.
According to the government regulatory agency, the IRS failed to fully adhere to all guidelines regarding the seizure of cryptocurrency during the period from December 2023 to January 2025, including detailed record-keeping of addresses, dates, and amounts.
The report stated: "Recommendations agreed upon by IRS-CI include: ensuring IRS-CI personnel are familiar with and comply with the requirements of the seizure memorandum; establishing an inventory system capable of managing seized digital assets, including accurately tracking the quantity of digital assets and ensuring consistent handling of all seized digital assets; and updating internal guidelines, including the timeline requirements for preparing seizure memoranda and updating inventory tracking system records."
Since the Trump administration's efforts to establish a national Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency reserve, the importance of U.S. government authorities seizing and holding digital assets has increased.
Although White House officials initially proposed primarily using cryptocurrencies seized in criminal cases for reserves, some have suggested alternatives such as tariffs and reassessing gold certificates.
Estimates of how much Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies the U.S. government currently holds vary based on available information from criminal cases. As of March, White House officials indicated that there are approximately 200,000 BTC in its reserves, valued at over $21 billion at the time of writing.
The most significant seizures include over 94,000 BTC related to the 2016 hack of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, as well as over 50,000 BTC from the Silk Road marketplace.
Related: FATF's cryptocurrency list hints at the next round of regulatory crackdowns
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