Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Cash Patel said at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas on April 27 that Bitcoin developers who write code without helping third parties commit crimes will not be investigated or charged, marking the clearest public statement about developer responsibility from the nation’s top law enforcement officials since the Tornado Cash prosecutions began.
summary
- Blanche said the Justice Department had “radically changed the game” and that developers who do not intentionally help users commit crimes will not be investigated or charged, noting that money laundering or violating sanctions remains criminal regardless of whether the perpetrator was a programmer or not.
- Patel told the audience that the FBI’s focus has shifted toward cryptocurrency fraud networks including pig slaughter scam centers linked to foreign adversaries, with plans to travel to Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand this summer to conduct related enforcement work.
- Both Blanche and Patel appeared via video rather than in person because they were needed in Washington, D.C., after an assassination attempt during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night.
Bitcoin developers received the clearest federal reassurance in years when Acting Rep. Blanche and FBI Director Patel addressed the 2026 Bitcoin Conference on April 27 via video conference, moderated by Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase. Bitcoin Magazine I mentioned “If you’re developing software, if you’re a programmer, if you’re part of that process and you’re not a third-party user and you’re not helping and you know that third party is using what you’re developing to commit crimes, then you’re not going to be investigated and you’re not going to be charged,” Blanche told the audience. Patel said Bitcoin “is not going anywhere” and placed it within the framework of economic infrastructure alongside other assets that support daily life.
Bitcoin developers get a federal guarantee based on a specific note dated April 2025
The policy Blanche described at the conference is based on a memorandum he issued in April 2025 as deputy attorney general, which directed the Justice Department to end “regulation by prosecution” in cryptocurrency cases and disband the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. Such as crypto.news I mentionedThis memo explicitly directed prosecutors away from cases targeting developers who create neutral tools that are later used by third parties, and was cited by the Department of Justice when narrowing the scope of charges against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm before his trial. Blanche was careful to draw the line precisely: writing code is protected, but intentionally facilitating money laundering or violating sanctions is not. “Just being a programmer does not absolve you from criminal liability,” he said. He added that developers who receive subpoenas should feel comfortable having their attorneys communicate directly with prosecutors and with him personally if they believe the case conflicts with his subpoena.
What Blanche’s Notes Mean for the Samurai’s Purse and Roman Storm Cases
The clearest test of whether Blanche’s statement will translate into changed results is the retrial of Roman Storm. Such as crypto.news NotarizedStorm was convicted in August 2025 of operating an unlicensed money transfer device, but the jury deadlocked on the two more serious charges of money laundering and felony violations, which carry a penalty of up to 40 years in federal prison. SDNY prosecutors subsequently filed a motion for retrial in October on those two unresolved charges. Blanche acknowledged “outstanding” and “procedurally complex” cases at the conference without naming them specifically, saying “we are continuing to deal with” such cases while emphasizing that the policy shift is real. Such as crypto.news trackingThe trial showed that even within the current prosecution framework, jurors had difficulty distinguishing technically between writing code and criminal conspiracy to facilitate its abuse.
What Patel Enforcement Redirection Means for Victims of Cryptocurrency Fraud
Patel’s message was different from Blanche’s developer-focused framework. Patel described pig slaughter scam networks operating out of Southeast Asia as the FBI’s primary cryptocurrency enforcement priority, saying he plans to travel to Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand this summer to coordinate enforcement with local authorities. Such as crypto.news malethe DeFi Fund sent a letter to White House crypto czar David Sachs on April 28, 2025, asking Trump to stop what he called “the Biden-era DOJ’s illegal campaign to criminalize open source software development,” and the industry was watching whether Blanche’s April 2025 memo would actually change the results rather than just rhetoric. Grewal summarized the combined message from both officials as “a crime is criminal; the law alone should not be,” a framework the industry has sought from federal law enforcement for three years.
Coin Center’s Peter Van Valkenburgh said the letter is a step forward but a key question remains unanswered: exactly how the Justice Department draws the line between publishing open source code and actionable knowledge about wrongdoing. The Roman Storm retrial in October will be the first real test of whether the policy shift Blanche described will change the outcome of a case already in the system.
