The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is scrapping a unit within the federal agency that focused exclusively on crypto-related investigations.
In a new memo released Monday, the DOJ says it plans to eliminate the so-called National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Unit (NCET), which was established during the Biden Administration to prosecute crypto-related enterprises.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche says in the memo that the agency is ending the unit now that President Trump has asked for the “end the regulatory weaponization against digital assets.”
“The Department of Justice is not a digital assets regulator. However, the prior Administration used the Justice Department to pursue a reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution, which was ill-conceived and poorly executed.
The Justice Department will no longer pursue litigation or enforcement actions that have the effect of superimposing regulatory frameworks on digital assets while President Trump’s actual regulators do this work outside the punitive criminal justice framework.”
Blanche says the unit is being disbanded to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order signed in January to establish “regulatory clarity” for digital assets.
The NCET was created in 2021 and was comprised of prosecutors from the DOJ’s money laundering and cybercrime units along with attorneys from other district offices, Fortune reports.
The unit participated in some of the DOJ’s largest crypto cases, including Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer that uses cryptographic smart contracts and zero-knowledge proofs to obscure digital asset transaction trails.
Blanche’s memo directs DOJ employees to narrow its crypto enforcement strategy.
Says the memo,
“…Consistent with President Trump’s directives and the Justice Department’s priorities, the Department’s investigations and prosecutions involving digital assets shall focus on prosecuting individuals who victimize digital asset investors, or those who use digital assets in furtherance of criminal offenses such as terrorism, narcotics and human trafficking, organized crime, hacking, and cartel and gang financing.”
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