The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued a memorandum outlining a significant shift in policy regarding digital assets. This new directive from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, dated April 7, 2025, aligns with President Trump’s commitment to making the federal government welcoming to the crypto industry. “The Department of Justice is not a digital assets regulator,” Blanche wrote in the memo. DOJ’s narrower crypto-related priorities will target individuals and entities that defraud crypto investors or use digital assets to fund criminal activities like human trafficking or terrorism, while ceasing actions against platforms and the developers of valuable tools that fraudsters may take advantage of to conduct illegal activities.  DOJ has instructed that ongoing cases and investigations that are inconsistent with these priorities should be closed. 

Blanche said in the memo that the disbandment of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team – which was created during the Biden administration with the goal of targeting exchanges, mixers, and others “that are enabling the misuse of cryptocurrency and related technologies to commit or facilitate criminal activity” – would be effective immediately. He also said that the Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit “will cease cryptocurrency enforcement in order to focus on other priorities, such as immigration and procurement fraud.” The DOJ will instead defer to other agencies to handle the regulatory aspects of digital assets and generally will avoid prosecuting regulatory violations such as unlicensed money transmission, violations of registration requirements, or similar infractions that require litigating whether a digital asset is a “security” or “commodity.”

DOJ’s new enforcement priorities will center on prosecuting individuals who cause financial harm to digital asset investors and consumers. This includes cases of embezzlement, misappropriation of customer funds on exchanges, digital asset investment scams, and fake digital asset development projects (such as rug pulls), among other things. Additionally, DOJ will prioritize cases involving the use of digital assets in furtherance of unlawful conduct by cartels, transnational criminal organizations, and designated global terrorists. This includes activities such as laundering proceeds of illicit businesses and concealing financing of terrorism from law enforcement. 

This memorandum signals a major recalibration in how the federal government approaches crypto enforcement. By focusing on clear-cut cases of fraud and criminal misuse, DOJ appears to seek to foster a more welcoming environment for digital assets – one that protects victims without stifling technological advancement.