Senator Elizabeth Warren launches fresh offensive on crypto

• Senators Elizabeth Warren, Mazie K. Hirono, and Dick Durbin want the DoJ’s decision to terminate crypto investigations reversed.
• The Senators raise concerns over the DoJ’s shift in priorities, terming it a “grave mistake.”
• The lawmakers point out possible conflicts of interest, highlighting President Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures as potential beneficiaries.

Senators Elizabeth Warren (ranking member of the United States (US) Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs) alongside Mazie K. Hirono (senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee) and Dick Durbin (ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee) led a team of six senators calling on the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to recall and reverse the decision taken by the Department of Justice (DoJ) to terminate cryptocurrency investigations and prosecutions.

The decision reported by FXStreet was communicated to the agency’s staff in a memo and included information on the disbandment of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), which was established to investigate and prosecute people charged with the criminal misuse of digital assets.

Senators protest the DoJ decision to terminate cryptocurrency investigations

The Senators addressed their concerns in a letter sent to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, raising concerns about a conflict of interest between the DoJ’s decisions and US President Donald Trump and his family’s cryptocurrency ventures.

According to the lawmakers, the memo gives “a free pass to cryptocurrency money launderers,” referring to the actions as “grave mistakes that will support sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams and child sexual exploitation.”

The DoJ memo outlined that the agency will no longer act on several federal laws targeting entities and institutions that deal with cryptocurrencies. The list included mixing and tumbling services often utilized as conduits for hiding illegal assets and laundered money — proceeds from illegal activities like scams, drug trafficking, child sexual abuse and theft.

“Drug traffickers, terrorists, fraudsters, and adversaries will exploit this vulnerability on a large scale,” the Senators wrote, adding that “further increasing the risks posed by bad actors is your decision to disband NCET, which has coordinated a Department-wide effort to prosecute illicit activity involving cryptocurrency.”

Blanche’s memo indicated that the resolution to disband NCET would ensure that the DoJ “focus on other priorities, such as immigration and procurement frauds.”

The letter also stipulated that the shift in the DoJ’s priorities hints at the conflict of interest with President Trump and his family potentially selling cryptocurrency and avoiding “law enforcement scrutiny.” 

The Senators concluded their letter by requesting Blanche to reconsider the decisions communicated in last week’s memo.

President Trump’s administration has implemented several major actions aimed at creating a crypto-friendly environment in the US. On January 23, an executive order was signed to foster regulatory clarity and ban central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).  On March 6, the President signed an executive order establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve and digital assets stockpile. 

Other actions taken by President Trump include establishing a crypto task force and spearheading a policy shift at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On January 23, the SEC canceled Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (SAB 121), which made it difficult for institutions to hold and custody digital assets.

At the time of writing on Monday, Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies remain relatively elevated from early last week’s levels, which had been battered by President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. The President suspended the tariffs for 90 days on Wednesday, triggering relief rallies in global markets, including crypto.