The Trump administration is disbanding a unit in the Justice Department that was responsible for investigating cryptocurrency crimes, criticizing the Biden administration as too aggressive against the fast-growing industry.
In a memo issued late Monday, Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, denounced his predecessors for investigating cryptocurrency operators in a manner he called “ill conceived and poorly executed.” He instead instructed the department to narrow the focus of cryptocurrency investigations to crimes like fraud, drug trafficking and terrorism.
The directive is in keeping with President Trump’s broad embrace of the crypto industry during his campaign and in office as he moves to relax enforcement.
The Trump family has expanded its business interests in the industry, including by establishing a crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. Shortly before taking office, Mr. Trump issued his own memecoin. And Trump Media & Technology Group, the social media company he is the majority shareholder in, has said it plans to introduce a number of digital asset investment products this year.
The Justice Department directive follows similar moves at the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has dismissed lawsuits and pending investigations involving matters in which crypto firms had not registered as exchanges. A number of S.E.C. lawyers on those cases have left the regulatory agency.
The S.E.C. has also drastically cut staffing of a crypto enforcement unit. As a matter of policy, the S.E.C. has said it is not going to seek to regulate memecoins because the novelty digital assets are not securities.
