The U.S. Department of Justice notified staff on Monday evening that the agency was disbanding a unit dedicated to crypto-related investigations. In a four-page memo reviewed by Fortune, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the decision, stating: “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.”
Blanche, the second-ranking official in the DOJ and President Donald Trump’s defense attorney during his 2024 criminal trial, wrote that NCET, or the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, was disbanded “effective immediately” as part of the agency’s efforts to comply with Trump’s January executive order on digital assets, which aimed to “establish regulatory clarity” for the industry.
A spokesperson for the DOJ declined to comment and sent Fortune a link to the full memo on the Justice Department’s website after publication.
Established in 2021 under President Joe Biden, NCET was a joint task force composed of prosecutors from the DOJ’s money laundering and cybercrime units as well as attorneys from other district offices.
The task force collaborated on some of the DOJ’s biggest crypto cases. Those included Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer that scrambled crypto funds to obscure ownership, and the case of Avraham Eisenberg, a hacker who exploited a crypto trading protocol for more than $100 million. The unit also led investigations into North Korean actors who helped launder proceeds from crypto hacks.
As part of the Monday memo, Blanche directed DOJ employees to focus on “prosecuting individuals who victimize digital asset investors” and not pursue cases against crypto exchanges, mixers like Tornado Cash, and “offline wallets.”
The closure of the DOJ crypto enforcement unit is the Trump administration’s latest regulatory pullback on digital assets. Previous measures include directives to civil agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to loosen crypto regulation.
Trump has also adopted explicitly pro-crypto policies, including a March executive order authorizing the creation of a strategic Bitcoin and digital assets reserve. Just days later, he also invited a who’s who of crypto executives to Washington, D.C., to speak about legislative priorities in a public photo op.
“I promised to make America the Bitcoin superpower of the world and the crypto capital of the planet,” Trump said during the summit. “And we’re taking historic action to deliver on that promise.”
Update, April 8, 2025: This article has been updated with a no comment from the DOJ as well as a link to the full memo.
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