- Senators Elizabeth Warren, Mazie K. Hirono, and Dick Durbin are urging a reversal of the DoJ’s decision to halt cryptocurrency investigations.
- The Senators express worries over the DoJ’s change in focus, describing it as a “serious error.”
- The lawmakers note potential conflicts of interest, pointing to President Trump’s cryptocurrency activities as possible beneficiaries.
Senators Elizabeth Warren (the ranking member of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs), Mazie K. Hirono (a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee), and Dick Durbin (ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee) have led a group of six senators in writing to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, urging him to rescind the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) decision to end cryptocurrency investigations and prosecutions.
The decision was shared with the agency’s staff via a memo and included details about the dissolution of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), which was created to investigate and prosecute individuals involved in the criminal use of digital assets.
Senators voice opposition to the DoJ’s halting of cryptocurrency investigations
The Senators conveyed their concerns in a letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, noting a potential conflict of interest between the DoJ’s actions and President Donald Trump along with his family’s cryptocurrency businesses.
The lawmakers pointed out that the memo effectively grants “a free pass to cryptocurrency money launderers,” labeling this action as “serious errors that will facilitate sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams, and child sexual exploitation.”
The memo from the DoJ indicated that the agency would no longer enforce various federal laws against entities and institutions engaged in cryptocurrency activities. This includes mixing and tumbling services typically used to obscure illegal assets and launder money derived from illicit activities like scams, drug trafficking, child sexual abuse, and theft.
“Drug traffickers, terrorists, fraudsters, and enemies will take advantage of this weakness on a significant scale,” the Senators wrote, adding that “your decision to disband NCET, which oversaw a department-wide campaign to prosecute illegal activities related to cryptocurrency, further elevates the risks posed by malicious actors.”
Blanche’s memo indicated that the decision to disband NCET would allow the DoJ to “focus on other priorities, such as immigration and procurement fraud.”
Furthermore, the letter suggested that this shift in the DoJ’s priorities alludes to a conflict of interest involving President Trump and his family’s potential engagements in the cryptocurrency space, potentially evading “law enforcement scrutiny.”
The Senators concluded their correspondence by urging Blanche to rethink the decisions outlined in last week’s memo.
During Trump’s administration, several significant measures were enacted to cultivate a cryptocurrency-friendly atmosphere in the United States. On January 23, an executive order was signed to enhance regulatory clarity and prohibit central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). On March 6, the President signed another executive order establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve and stockpile of digital assets.
Additional actions taken by the Trump administration included forming a cryptocurrency task force and driving a policy shift at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On January 23, the SEC terminated Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (SAB 121), which had complicated the ability of institutions to hold and manage digital assets.
As of Monday, Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies remain comparatively high compared to the low points early last week, which were affected by reciprocal tariffs imposed by President Trump. The President temporarily suspended these tariffs for 90 days on Wednesday, sparking relief rallies across global markets, including in the cryptocurrency sector.
Bitcoin, altcoins, stablecoins FAQs
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and serves as a virtual currency intended for use as money. This form of payment functions independently of control by any individual, group, or entity, thereby eliminating the necessity for third-party involvement in financial transactions.
Altcoins refer to any cryptocurrency aside from Bitcoin. However, some consider Ethereum as a non-altcoin because both it and Bitcoin are the origins of many forks. If that is true, then Litecoin is recognized as the first altcoin, having forked from the Bitcoin protocol, and is thus seen as an “improved” version of it.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a stable price, with their value supported by a reserve of the asset they represent. This is achieved by pegging the value of a stablecoin to a commodity or financial instrument, such as the US Dollar (USD), with its supply managed through an algorithm or based on demand. The primary aim of stablecoins is to facilitate an entry and exit point for investors wishing to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies, while also offering a means to store value, considering the general volatility of cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin dominance refers to the ratio of Bitcoin’s market capitalization compared to the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined. This metric provides insight into the level of investor interest in Bitcoin. A high Bitcoin dominance generally occurs before and during a bull market when investors tend to favor investing in relatively stable and high market capitalization cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. A decline in Bitcoin dominance typically signals that investors are reallocating their capital and/or profits to altcoins in the pursuit of higher returns, potentially resulting in significant altcoin rallies.