WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Justice Department is disbanding a team of prosecutors who targeted cryptocurrency crimes and is shifting its focus away from complex crypto-related cases involving banking and securities law, according to a memo reviewed by The Associated Press.
鈥淭he Department of Justice is not a digital assets regulator,鈥� Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a memo sent to prosecutors Monday.
滨迟鈥檚 by the Trump administration the cryptocurrency industry while undoing the Biden administration鈥檚 efforts to crack down on wrongdoers in the industry. The Trump administration鈥檚 effort has included in crypto-related enforcement priorities at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Blanche鈥檚 memo is part of by the Justice Department to step back from certain white-collar enforcement to align with President Donald Trump鈥檚 priorities of tackling illegal immigration, gangs and drug crimes.
Blanche said the Biden administration had used the department to 鈥減ursue a reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution, which was ill conceived and poorly executed.鈥� Instead, Blanche said, the department's narrower crypto-related priorities will target people and entities that rip off crypto investors or use digital assets to fund criminal conduct like human trafficking, drug running or terrorism.
, which spent heavily to help Trump win election, has long complained that the Biden administration unfairly targeted innocent actors with either criminal or civil enforcement actions. Opposing the ongoing criminal case against the developers behind Tornado Cash, a tumbler used to hide ownership of crypto assets, has been a celebrated cause among some privacy and crypto enthusiasts.
鈥淲e should be going after bad guys. Not the developers of good tools that bad guys happen to use,鈥� Peter Van Valkenburgh, the executive director of the advocacy group Coin Center, said on X in praise of Blanche鈥檚 memo.
The National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team was created during President Joe Biden's administration with the explicit goal of targeting exchanges, mixers and others 鈥渢hat are enabling the misuse of cryptocurrency and related technologies to commit or facilitate criminal activity.鈥�
But Blanche said those kinds of entities will no longer be targeted for 鈥渢he acts of their end users or unwitting violations of regulations.鈥�
Blanche said the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team鈥檚 disbandment is effective immediately. He also said the Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit 鈥渨ill cease cryptocurrency enforcement in order to focus on other priorities, such as immigration and procurement fraud.鈥�
Once a crypto skeptic, Trump, a Republican, has pledged to make the U.S. of crypto. He and his sons have also their personal fortunes with various crypto-related enterprises.
Alan Suderman And Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated Press
