Digital assets have become an increasingly mainstream component of American public finance. At least 19 states considered or passed legislation in 2025 to allow a portion of state funds to be invested in digital assets, and numerous state and local governments own cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether due to forfeiture, seizure, or tax collection.

Without proper safeguards, holding digital assets exposes state and local governments to risk of theft and fraud. Incidents of stolen digital assets are widely documented, and governments are at risk if they do not work with the right custody partner to protect taxpayers’ digital property.

ICE is reducing this risk by developing a digital asset custody offering through ICE Digital Trust (IDT), a New York state-chartered trust company and qualified custodian. IDT’s digital asset custody offering is tailored to reduce the risk of theft and is designed with best-in-class technology, processes and governance to support custody of public-sector-owned digital assets.

In ICE’s latest white paper, Protecting public digital assets with ICE Digital Trust, custody and cybersecurity experts at IDT explore many of the practical considerations and challenges facing government officials seeking to protect public holdings of digital assets: