Anchorage Digital faces scrutiny from US Homeland Security — Report

The US Division of Homeland Safety’s El Dorado Process Drive has reportedly launched an investigation into Anchorage Digital Financial institution, a Wall Avenue-backed cryptocurrency agency. 

In line with an April 14 Barron’s report, members of the duty power have contacted former workers of the corporate over the previous weeks to look at its practices and insurance policies. Citing unidentified sources, the report claims the probe appears at potential monetary crimes inside Anchorage. 

The reported Homeland activity power probe hints at cross-national monetary actions. Established in 1992, the El Dorado Process Drive focuses on “transnational cash laundering” actions and monetary crimes carried out by organizations. 

Anchorage is co-founded by Portuguese-American entrepreneur Diogo Mónica and Nathan McCauley, in response to its web site. Together with its US companies, Anchorage has operations in Singapore and Portugal. Its buyers embrace Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs and Visa, amongst others. 

Anchorage Digital is the one federally chartered crypto financial institution in america. It acquired its nationwide belief financial institution constitution from the Workplace of the Comptroller of the Foreign money (OCC) in January 2021. 

Regardless of its superior regulatory place, Anchorage Digital has confronted regulatory challenges within the US. In April 2022, the OCC issued a consent order in opposition to the financial institution for deficiencies in its Financial institution Secrecy Act and Anti-Cash Laundering compliance packages. On the time, the corporate was ordered to determine a committee to deal with the alleged points below the oversight of the OCC.

Cointelegraph reached out to Anchorage for remark however had not acquired a response on the time of publication. 

Anchorage’s crypto footprint

Anchorage was based in 2017, and since then has been increasing its crypto footprint with providers for institutional shoppers. The corporate is a custodian of BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) alongside Coinbase and BitGo. BlackRock’s BTC funds have attracted over $35.5 billion in cumulative inflows since its launch in January 2024. 

One other of Anchorage’s shoppers is Cantor Fitzgerald. The corporate has supplied custody and collateral administration for Cantor’s Bitcoin holdings since March 2025. Anchorage reported over $50 billion in property below administration in 2024. 

Amongst Anchorage’s custody rivals are gamers akin to Ripple, Kraken, Taurus and Fireblocks, however the storage of digital property has additionally attracted conventional monetary establishments to the crypto area. HSBC, Citi and BNY Mellon — America’s oldest financial institution — are additionally competing to safeguard crypto property for institutional shoppers. 

In line with Fireblocks’ Adam Levine, senior vp of company growth, the US market lacks certified custodians for digital property. “[…] there are restricted choices for sure market individuals to maintain their digital property in protected protecting through a certified custodian,” Levine informed Cointelegraph in a earlier interview.

A 2025 survey by EY reveals that 59% of institutional buyers plan to allocate over 5% of their property below administration to cryptocurrencies, indicating a rising demand for institutional-grade custody providers.

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