U.S. Shuts Down Crypto Crime Unit as Trump Shifts Focus to Investor Fraud
The U.S. government is pulling back from its aggressive stance on crypto enforcement, as the Department of Justice officially shuts down its specialized cryptocurrency crime unit.
The decision reflects a broader shift under President Donald Trump’s leadership, aimed at easing federal intervention in the digital asset space.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche confirmed the closure of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) in a recent memo. The four-page directive framed the move as an attempt to bring more predictability and less regulatory pressure to the crypto industry.
Blanche, who also represented Trump during his legal proceedings in 2024, criticized the prior administration’s strategy of policing crypto through criminal prosecutions. He emphasized that the DOJ should not function as a regulatory agency for digital assets.
Going forward, the department will move away from targeting crypto infrastructure like exchanges and mixing tools, shifting its attention instead to individuals who defraud or harm investors directly.
NCET had been active since its launch in 2021 and led several high-profile investigations. Among its most notable actions were the cases against Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer accused of enabling illicit activity; Avraham Eisenberg, who allegedly manipulated DeFi protocols to extract over $100 million; and North Korean operatives tied to laundering stolen digital assets.
The unit’s closure signals a major pivot in how the federal government intends to deal with crypto-related crime—favoring a more targeted approach over sweeping crackdowns on platforms and protocols.
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coindoo and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
