The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has abruptly shut down its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET). This ends a key pillar of federal crypto oversight established under the Biden administration.
The decision adds to the US’s list of regulatory easing for crypto under the Trump administration.
US DOJ Disbands Crypto Unit
The decision was announced Monday evening in a four-page memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a longtime Trump ally and personal defense attorney to the president.
Fortune reviewed the memo, which stated that the US DOJ would no longer act as a de facto crypto regulator and would immediately cease broad enforcement actions against crypto platforms and protocols.
The decision marks a turning point in how federal authorities treat digital assets. It pivots away from high-profile crackdowns and toward a streamlined, pro-industry approach, mirroring Trump’s broader crypto-friendly agenda.
“The Department of Justice is not a digital assets regulator. The prior Administration used the Justice Department to pursue a reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution,” Fortune reported, citing Blanche in the memo.
NCET has been disbanded effective immediately. Created in 2021 under the Biden administration, the unit coordinated some of the most consequential crypto enforcement actions to date, including the prosecution of Tornado Cash developers.
Others include the arrest of Avraham Eisenberg over a $100 million exploit and investigations into North Korean crypto laundering.
Blanche’s directive makes clear that future DOJ efforts will target individual bad actors who defraud crypto investors, as opposed to infrastructure providers like exchanges, mixers (mixing services), or wallet developers.
This includes stepping away from cases involving privacy-focused protocols and decentralized platforms. Of note, these are controversial areas where critics had accused the DOJ of criminalizing open-source code.
From Crackdown to Regulatory Clarity
Until now, the NCET had symbolized the government’s most forceful efforts to rein in crypto. Its collaboration with international partners to disrupt exchanges like Garantex and its seizure of billions in Bitcoin from Silk Road-related wallets were milestones in digital asset enforcement.
However, critics said the unit’s broad approach, particularly targeting decentralized protocols like Tornado Cash, blurred the line between crime prevention and technological suppression.
“…blocking open source technology entirely because a small portion of users are bad actors is not what Congress authorized. These sanctions stretched Treasury’s authority beyond recognition, and the Fifth Circuit agreed,” Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, wrote recently.
Trump’s DOJ now appears to agree. In dismantling the task force, Blanche has reoriented federal priorities toward punishing identifiable fraud. Examples include Ponzi schemes and phishing attacks, rather than prosecuting platforms that facilitate crypto transactions.
The move aligns with Trump’s accelerating adoption of digital assets. In March, the president issued an executive order directing federal agencies to scale back aggressive oversight and promote a clear regulatory framework for crypto.
He announced plans to establish a national Bitcoin reserve, framing digital assets as a strategic economic and monetary resource.
Therefore, the memo suggests that those promises are now translating into policy. In addition to the DOJ pulling back, civil regulators have also received instructions to soften their stance on digital assets.
BeInCrypto recently reported that the CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Commission) removed regulatory hurdles for the crypto derivatives market. Enforcement actions against major players like Coinbase, Kraken, and Ripple have also slowed considerably.
This redirection does not mean all enforcement is gone. Recent actions indicate that the DOJ will continue pursuing threats tied to terrorism financing and individual fraud. This includes seizures of funds linked to Hamas and criminal pleas in laundering cases.
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