Trump’s DOJ will no longer prosecute cryptocurrency fraud
The Trump administration is disbanding a Department of Justice unit dedicated to enforcing cryptocurrency fraud, ending what it calls “regulation by prosecution.â€
In a memo obtained by The Washington Post, deputy attorney general Todd Blanche directed federal prosecutors to cease “litigation or enforcement actions that have the effect of superimposing regulatory frameworks on digital assets.†Prosecutors were told to “no longer target virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and offline wallets for the acts of their end users or unwittingly violations of regulations.†Blanche ordered prosecutors to close ongoing investigations that are “inconsistent†with the new policy.
Trump, a former cryptocurrency skeptic, has reversed course in recent years, positioning himself as the crypto industry’s political champion and receiving donations from crypto billionaires in turn. He headlined the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, and launched his own “crypto platform†ahead of the presidential election. As president, he has helped enrich the crypto interests that helped him get elected — and now he’s effectively promising to deregulate the indus …