Six US senators have pressed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over his decision to shut down the Department of Justice’s cryptocurrency enforcement team in April last year, citing concerns that he held significant crypto assets at the time.
Blanche dissolved the DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team in April 2025, just months after Donald Trump took office following a pro-crypto election campaign. The unit, established in 2022 under the Biden administration, led several high-profile investigations, including the case against Binance and its founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating US anti-money-laundering laws.
At the time, Blanche argued that the DOJ is not a “digital assets regulator” and accused the Biden administration of using the department to pursue what he called a “reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution.”
However, senators Mazie K. Hirono, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Christopher A. Coons, and Richard Blumenthal allege Blanche still held “substantial amounts” of cryptocurrency when he made the decision, raising potential conflict-of-interest concerns.
Senators question Blanche’s motives
According to the lawmakers, Blanche disclosed crypto holdings valued between $158,000 and $470,000—primarily Bitcoin and Ether—just days before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 21. By Feb. 10, he had agreed to divest the assets “as soon as practicable.”
The senators pointed to the roughly two-month gap between Blanche’s appointment on March 5 and the sale of his crypto holdings on May 31, noting that the divestment came about a month after he issued an April 7 memo scaling back 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,” the senators wrote in a Jan. 28 letter to Blanche.
“At a minimum, you had a glaring conflict of interest and should have recused yourself,” the senators wrote, adding that Blanche’s actions could amount to a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 208(a), which governs decisions that affect an official’s personal financial interests.
Lawmakers reiterate earlier warnings
Hirono, Warren, Durbin, Whitehouse, Coons, and Blumenthal had previously warned Blanche that dismantling the crypto enforcement unit was a serious error. In an April 10 letter, they said the move would undermine efforts to combat crimes facilitated by digital assets.
“These are grave mistakes that will support sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams, and child sexual exploitation,” the senators wrote. “It makes no sense for the DOJ to announce a hands-off approach to tools that are being used to enable such horrific crimes.”
They also pointed to data showing a sharp rise in illicit crypto activity in 2025. According to TRM Labs, crypto-related crime hit a record $158 billion that year, up nearly 145% from 2024, with criminals stealing $2.87 billion across nearly 150 separate hacks.
“This surge was driven largely by a dramatic increase in cryptocurrency flows to sanctioned entities,” the senators said, noting that most other categories of crypto crime—including human trafficking and violent crime—also increased.
