The US Justice Department has disbanded its cryptocurrency enforcement unit and directed prosecutors to limit their pursuit of certain digital asset crimes, according to an internal memo sent to staff on Monday.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced in the four-page memo dated April 7 that the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team “shall be disbanded effective immediately” as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to loosen oversight in the digital assets sector.
“The Department of Justice is not a digital assets regulator,” wrote Blanche, who previously represented Trump in his 2024 criminal trial. “The prior administration used the Justice Department to pursue a reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution, which was ill conceived and poorly executed.”
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The memo instructs prosecutors to focus on “prosecuting individuals who victimize digital asset investors, or those who use digital assets in furtherance of criminal offenses such as terrorism, narcotics and human trafficking, organized crime, hacking, and cartel and gang financing.”
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According to the memo, the Justice Department “will no longer target virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and offline wallets for the acts of their end users or unwitting violations of regulations,” a significant shift in enforcement strategy.
The department’s Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit has also been ordered to “cease cryptocurrency enforcement in order to focus on other priorities, such as immigration and procurement frauds.” Ongoing investigations deemed “inconsistent” with the new policy “should be closed,” the memo stated.
The policy change implements directives from Executive Order 14178, which calls for protecting and promoting “the ability of individual citizens and private-sector entities alike to access and use for lawful purposes open public blockchain networks without persecution.”
Trump and his family have launched their own cryptocurrency ventures over the past year. The Trump family created World Liberty Financial, a crypto exchange, and both the president and First Lady have released their own crypto tokens. Trump’s sons recently established a Bitcoin mining company.
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Financial disclosures show Blanche himself holds cryptocurrency assets valued between $158,000 and $470,000. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also dropped multiple cases against crypto firms since Trump took office in January.
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