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U.S. DOJ Disbands Crypto Enforcement Unit

The U.S. Department of Justice is set to dismantle a special unit that investigated crypto-related crimes.

By Mike Hesp
• 2 min read
U.S. DOJ Disbands Crypto Enforcement Unit

The U.S. Department of Justice is set to dismantle a special unit that dealt with investigations into crypto-related crimes. This decision was announced by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Blanche, a confidant of former President Donald Trump, said: “The Department of Justice is not a watchdog for crypto assets. Yet the previous administration used the department to push a ruthless, enforcement-first regulatory approach through criminal prosecutions.”

Earlier, the U.S. securities regulator SEC also said its dedicated crypto-enforcement division had been significantly slimmed down. In its place comes a new "crypto task force" led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce.

The Justice Department’s crypto unit was created in 2021 by the Biden administration and consisted of prosecutors specialized in money laundering and cybercrime, supplemented with lawyers from various districts.

The unit was involved in some of the biggest crypto cases, including the Tornado Cash crypto mixer investigation and the Avraham Eisenberg case, a hacker who siphoned more than $100 million through a trading protocol.

In an internal memo, Blanche instructed DOJ staff to focus on “prosecuting individuals who threaten or defraud crypto investors,” and not on cases against crypto exchanges, mixers like Tornado Cash, or “offline wallets.”

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