New US attorney general softens crypto enforcement

TLDR

Todd Blanche, the new acting U.S. attorney general, is steering the Department of Justice toward a softer, more selective approach to crypto enforcement, but criminal cases are not going away.

1. Blanche previously shut down the DOJs dedicated crypto task force and issued guidance against regulation by prosecution, deprioritizing structural cases against exchanges and mixers.
2. Enforcement is shifting toward clear fraud and sanctions evasion, which may ease pressure on compliant firms but leaves privacy tools and some developers in a gray zone.
3. The real test will be how current cases and future policy memos evolve, and how this DOJ stance interacts with broader SEC/CFTC rulemaking.

Deep Dive

1. What Has Actually Changed

Reporting shows President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi and elevated Todd Blanche, his former defense lawyer and deputy attorney general, to acting AG in early April 2026. Blanche previously authored an April 2025 memo that disbanded the DOJs National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), arguing the department is not a digital assets regulator and criticizing prior regulation by prosecution of crypto businesses. That memo directed prosecutors to stop pursuing cases targeting exchanges, mixers, and self-custody tools purely for regulatory violations, and to focus instead on clear investor fraud, which multiple outlets describe as a major policy shift for digital asset enforcement.

Blanche is also personally crypto-exposed, having disclosed significant holdings in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and others, which he says were later transferred to family members for ethics reasons, a detail that has raised conflict-of-interest concerns among critics.

2. How This Affects Crypto Users And Firms

Practically, the DOJ appears less likely to bring headline cases that treat normal exchange operations or privacy tooling as de facto regulatory crimes, and more likely to concentrate on fraud, sanctions evasion, and large-scale money laundering. One high-profile effect was prosecutors dropping a charge against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm that relied on an expansive unlicensed money transmitter theory, reportedly citing Blanches directive, even as other counts continue.

For exchanges and large platforms with strong KYC and compliance, this can reduce tail-risk of being made into a test case for ambiguous rules. For privacy protocols, mixers, and devs, the picture is mixed: some legal theories are being walked back, but successful prosecutions of software developers under other counts show risk remains.

3. What To Watch Next

1. Treatment of existing cases: Whether DOJ narrows or drops remaining counts in privacy- and DeFi-related prosecutions will show how deep this policy shift runs.
2. Future DOJ guidance: Additional memos could either formalize a more restrained stance or carve out exceptions that pull some structural cases back in.
3. Regulatory alignment: In parallel, SEC and CFTC work on clearer asset classification and market-structure rules could either complement DOJs narrower criminal focus or reintroduce pressure through civil enforcement.

Conclusion

Blanches appointment and prior decisions have already softened the Justice Departments posture toward crypto, particularly by ending NCET and discouraging broad regulation by prosecution. For crypto users and firms, that likely means fewer surprise criminal actions against structurally compliant platforms, but continued and possibly sharper focus on outright fraud, sanctions evasion, and abuse of privacy tools. The durability of this softer stance will depend on how current cases evolve and whether Congress and financial regulators lock in a more rules-based framework.