Beth A. Williams, a major player in shaping the US Department of Justice’s crypto policy, has left her post.
Office of Legal Policy departure
Beth A. Williams is not a household name. However, until Dec. 11, she played a major role in how the US Justice Department sees crypto. The Assistant Attorney worked in the DoJ’s Office of Legal Policy for years. In that time, she made a difference in the department’s actions.
She helped pen the Report of the Attorney General’s Cyber Digital Task Force. This Oct 2020 document laid the groundwork for digital asset lawmaking for the US federal government. The document is just beginning to affect law enforcement.
When DoJ released the framework on Oct 8, 2020, Williams praised the document as a milestone in financial policy. In her opinion, the legal framework was meant to protect the public. She said:
The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the public from current and emerging cyber threats, including those involving cryptocurrency and related technologies.
Also, when that framework was originally announced, influential crypto enthusiasts saw it as a very bullish sign for Ripple’s XRP. Ripple made their crypto currency regulator-friendly. In doing so, XRP could form the basis of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Shake up or shake down?
According to the DOJ, Williams played a large role in the shaping of digital asset policy.
During Ms. Williams’s tenure as Assistant Attorney General, OLP played a lead role in the department’s cyber policies, including coordinating the development of a recent white paper on cryptocurrency as part of the Cyber-Digital Task Force, and undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the department’s work in the cyber area to identify how federal law enforcement can even more effectively accomplish its mission.
The DoJ’s announcement says that Williams is leaving the Office of Legal Policy. However, it does not say she is leaving the department altogether.
Things are changing rapidly at the DoJ as the US government transitions to a new executive leadership. Indeed, the department expects a major shake-up. In the meantime, the Treasury Department is mulling a ban on self-hosted crypto wallets. The proposed move is drawing fire already, and several congresspeople are criticizing it.
The landscape of crypto regulation changes by the minute. Moreover, bureaucrats and politicians are increasingly aware of the power of blockchain regulation.
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