Trump’s new attorney general holds bitcoin — but has a mixed record with cryptocurrencies

On Thursday, President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi and promoted her deputy, Todd Blanche, to run the Justice Department. Trump indicated that the promotion was temporary, however Reports She suggests that the President is waiting to see how Blanche, his former personal lawyer, will perform in the new role.

Blanche’s promotion has several implications, including some related to cryptocurrencies. The former federal prosecutor instigated a number of pro-industry reforms at the Justice Department last year, and is himself a cryptocurrency investor.

But under his and Bondi’s leadership, US attorneys have also continued to aggressively pursue cases against cryptocurrency software developers — a development that has alarmed some privacy and decentralization advocates.

When Blanche entered the federal government last year, he… It has been detected A large amount of crypto collectibles. The acting prosecutor reported that he owned between $100,000 and $250,000. Bitcoinin addition to an amount ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 dollars Ethereum. He also reported smaller holdings of several altcoins, including SolanaAnd Cardano, Ethereum Classic, Polygon and Polkadot. All cryptocurrency tokens are held via a Coinbase account.

said Blanche in subsequent manners Deposit He later transferred these cryptocurrency assets to his adult children and grandson.

Within weeks of becoming the Justice Department’s second-highest-ranking official last year, Blanche disbanded the office’s dedicated cryptocurrency enforcement team. Him too directions Federal Prosecutors to Roll Back Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Cryptocurrency Mixing Services Relied by Criminal Actors and Hostile Nations Like North Korea and Iran.

“The previous administration used the Department of Justice to pursue a reckless strategy of regulation through prosecution, which was poorly designed and poorly executed,” Blanche said at the time.

Echoing this position, a senior Justice Department official said He said Months later, a chamber of cryptocurrency policy leaders announced that the Trump administration would stop charging cryptocurrency software developers with the specific crime of operating an unlicensed money transmitter.

But the great relief expressed by cryptocurrency leaders regarding this commitment was short-lived. Last fall, Trump’s Justice Department sent two Bitcoin privacy notices programming Developers To prison on charges of operating an illegal money transfer.

When Trump’s Justice Department prosecuted another Ethereum developer for creating similar software last year, a Manhattan jury convicted the man, Roman Sturm, of operating an illegal money transmitter — but deadlocked on two other charges. Last month, under the leadership of Blanche and Bondi, federal prosecutors moved to… Try again Storm on these two counts.

Peter Van Valkenburgh, executive director of the cryptocurrency policy think tank Coin Center, recently He said Decryption That Trump’s seemingly inconsistent collection of pro-crypto statements and ongoing prosecution of cryptocurrency developers has left the industry in “very bad shape.”

It remains to be seen whether the Justice Department’s cryptocurrency policies will change as Blanche moves to the top of the department’s leadership. But these policies may not have been solely related to the now ousted Bondi. In December, in response to the question from DecryptionPresident Trump said he would “consider” pardoning cryptocurrency software developers convicted by the Department of Justice. No such amnesty has been implemented since then.