Senators Confront Deputy Attorney General About Cryptocurrency Enforcement Unit Dissolution
The group of six United States senators pointed to a 162% surge in criminal cryptocurrency transactions during 2025 as evidence that the Department of Justice made an error in dissolving its digital asset enforcement division.
A group of six United States senators has confronted Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche regarding his decision to dissolve the Department of Justice's (DOJ) digital asset enforcement division in April of last year, particularly given that he maintained significant cryptocurrency investments during that period.
The national cryptocurrency enforcement team at the DOJ was disbanded by Blanche in April 2025, occurring only a few months following Donald Trump's presidential inauguration after conducting a campaign favorable to cryptocurrency.
The specialized task force had its origins in 2022 during the Joe Biden administration's tenure and spearheaded significant investigations, including the examination of Binance and its founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, who entered a guilty plea in 2023 for violations of United States anti-money-laundering regulations.
At that time, Blanche maintained his position that the DOJ should not function as a "digital assets regulator" and criticized the Biden administration for employing the DOJ to "pursue a reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution."
Nevertheless, United States senators Mazie K. Hirono, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Christopher A. Coons, and Richard Blumenthal contend that Blanche maintained "substantial amounts" of digital currency investments when making this decision, creating a possible conflict of interest situation.
US senators question Blanche's "motivations"
The senators have stated that Blanche disclosed cryptocurrency assets with values ranging between $158,000 and $470,000 — predominantly consisting of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) — merely days prior to Trump's inauguration ceremony on Jan. 21.
On Feb. 10, he committed to selling these assets "as soon as practicable." The senators drew attention to the approximately two-month period between Blanche's confirmation on March 5 and his eventual cryptocurrency sale on May 31, occurring just one month following his issuance of a memorandum on April 7 that reduced the scope of the enforcement task force.
The fact that you held substantial amounts of cryptocurrency at the time you made this decision calls into question your own motivations.
"You should have recused yourself from this matter at the very least, as you had a glaring conflict of interest," the senators stated, further noting that his conduct might represent a breach of 18 U.S.C. § 208(a), a statute addressing actions that affect personal financial interests.
Senators previously said Blanche was making "grave mistakes"
The same group of senators — Hirono, Warren, Durbin, Whitehouse, Coons, and Blumenthal — had previously characterized the enforcement unit shutdown as a significant error in correspondence sent to Blanche on April 10.
These are grave mistakes that will support sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams, and child sexual exploitation. It makes no sense for the DOJ to announce a hands-off approach to tools that are being used to support such terrible crimes.
Illegal cryptocurrency activity experienced a significant spike in 2025, climbing to an unprecedented level of $158 billion, representing an increase of nearly 145% compared to 2024, based on data from TRM Labs.
Throughout 2025, criminal actors successfully obtained $2.87 billion via approximately 150 distinct hacking incidents.
This increase was driven primarily by a dramatic rise in the receipt of cryptocurrency by sanctioned entities, but most categories of crypto crime saw increases, including human trafficking and other violent crime.