According to Fortune magazine, ChainCatcher reports that the U.S. Department of Justice notified staff on Monday evening that the agency is dissolving a department specifically responsible for cryptocurrency-related investigations. In a four-page memo reviewed by Fortune magazine, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced this decision, stating: "The Department of Justice is not a digital asset regulatory agency. However, the previous government used the Department of Justice to implement a reckless regulatory strategy through prosecution."
Blanche, the second-highest official at the Department of Justice and Trump's criminal trial defense lawyer, wrote that as part of the DOJ's efforts to comply with Trump's January executive order on digital assets, the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) is being "immediately" dissolved, an order aimed at "establishing regulatory clarity" for the industry. As part of Monday's memo, Blanche instructed DOJ staff to focus on "prosecuting those who harm digital asset investors" rather than pursuing cases against cryptocurrency exchanges, mixers like "Tornado Cash", and "offline wallets".
