US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has awarded TRM Labs a contract for blockchain analytics worth almost 49 times the largest amount the agency had ever paid the firm before, without competition. Rival Chainalysis is suing to stop it, and a judge will hear the case on 2 Sept.
ICE Handed TRM Labs a $94.7mn Crypto-Tracing Deal Without Competition
17 August 2026 - 13:23 UTC
By Stu Clelland
Blockchain analytics is software that traces cryptocurrency transactions and tries to link wallet addresses to real people and organizations. Governments, banks and news organizations, including Sandmark, rely on data from these firms to describe criminal activity onchain. TRM Labs and Chainalysis are the two firms that dominate US federal contracting for the work, and both now have an interest in this case.
What the federal record shows
Contract 70CMSD26C00000005 runs from 1 Jul 2026 to 30 Jun 2027 and obligates $94.7mn, according to federal spending records. It supports the Homeland Security Task Force National Coordination Center's Cyber Disruption Center through analytical support services.
The award is recorded as not competed. Federal data lists the solicitation procedure as "only one source," records one offer received, and cites Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1, the provision allowing an agency to buy from a single supplier when it judges only one can meet the need. ICE published a notice of intent to sole-source in June, inviting one-page capability statements from other firms, and the award notice references a justification that has been redacted.
The scale is the striking part
ICE has bought from TRM Labs 12 times since 2022, in amounts from $40,000 to $1.95mn, totalling $9.30mn across four years. The new contract is more than 10 times everything the agency had previously spent with the firm combined, and 28 times TRM's largest previous federal contract of any kind, a $3.33mn Internal Revenue Service (IRS) award in 2023.
Chainalysis has the longer relationship with the agency. It has won 13 ICE awards since 2018, worth $18.32mn in total, the largest of them $3.57mn last September. Its most recent came in May, for $262,149. TRM's new contract is more than 26 times Chainalysis's biggest ICE award to date.
Sole-source awards are not unusual in this market. In March, the IRS awarded Chainalysis a contract obligating $10.92mn under the same FAR provision ICE used for TRM, also recorded as not competed with a single offer received. Chainalysis's largest federal award by obligated value remains a $26.77mn IRS contract from 2023.
Both firms hold agreements across the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the IRS, the US Secret Service and US Customs and Border Protection. TRM reached a $1bn valuation in February based on that government and compliance work.
A hearing in three weeks
Chainalysis Government Solutions filed suit on 27 Jul in the US Court of Federal Claims, which hears contract claims against the federal government, under the Tucker Act. The docket records the case as a post-award injunction, meaning Chainalysis is asking the court to halt a contract already awarded. TRM was allowed to join the following day to defend the award.
The complaint is under seal. Judge Stephen Schwartz issued a protective order on 31 Jul alongside a briefing schedule that runs to the end of the month, with oral argument set for 10:00 EDT (14:00UTC) on 2 Sept at the National Courts Building in Washington. The government has asked for a decision by 10 Sept, eight days after the hearing.
Sandmark has approached Chainalysis, TRM Labs and ICE for comment. The article will be updated with any response. Sandmark has cited Chainalysis research on North Korean theft and findings from both firms.
