A Monday night memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, citing Trump’s crypto executive orders, has dismantled the Department of Justice’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) and directed the agency’s Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit to “cease cryptocurrency enforcement”.
![A Monday night memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, citing Trump’s crypto executive orders, has dismantled the Department of Justice’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) and directed the agency’s Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit to “cease cryptocurrency enforcement”.1 The memo also directs prosecutors to “not charge regulatory violations in cases involving digital assets including but not limited to unlicensed money transmitting..., violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, unregistered securities offering violations, unregistered broker-dealer violations, and other violations of registration requirements under the Commodity Exchange Act” unless they have specific knowledge that the defendant knowingly and willfully violated a specific requirement — erecting a major barrier to prosecuting such cases.
The National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, established in October 2021 and merged with the computer crimes section in July 2023, helped investigate and prosecute cases including the historic Binance case [I44] — which was based on charges that the DOJ is now explicitly discouraged from prosecuting. NCET was also heavily involved in prosecuting Bitzlato for its role in laundering ransomware proceeds and illicit assets tied to the Russian Hydra darkweb marketplace [I46], and in prosecuting Avi Eisenberg, who I will return to in a moment.23](/proxy/post_attachment/475896/7cbb1bd33c.png "A Monday night memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, citing Trump’s crypto executive orders, has dismantled the Department of Justice’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) and directed the agency’s Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit to “cease cryptocurrency enforcement”.1 The memo also directs prosecutors to “not charge regulatory violations in cases involving digital assets including but not limited to unlicensed money transmitting..., violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, unregistered securities offering violations, unregistered broker-dealer violations, and other violations of registration requirements under the Commodity Exchange Act” unless they have specific knowledge that the defendant knowingly and willfully violated a specific requirement — erecting a major barrier to prosecuting such cases.
The National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, established in October 2021 and merged with the computer crimes section in July 2023, helped investigate and prosecute cases including the historic Binance case [I44] — which was based on charges that the DOJ is now explicitly discouraged from prosecuting. NCET was also heavily involved in prosecuting Bitzlato for its role in laundering ransomware proceeds and illicit assets tied to the Russian Hydra darkweb marketplace [I46], and in prosecuting Avi Eisenberg, who I will return to in a moment.23")
As we watch Trump dismantling cryptocurrency industry regulations and enforcement, it’s worth revisiting the extent to which he and his family personally profit from their cryptocurrency business interests, which they have been rapidly expanding.
![Then there’s Trump Media, the firm behind the Truth Social platform, which has recently filed documents disclosing plans to explore something called Truth.Fi, which will include a crypto component [I80]. Trump’s stake in Trump Media is estimated at around $2 billion, and the company recently submitted filings that would allow the trust holding his shares in the company (controlled by Donald Trump Jr.) to sell them.14
Then there are the memecoins [I75]. Trump has already extracted around $350 million from crypto buyers via his $TRUMP token.15 On April 18, he’ll be allowed to sell off another 40 million of the tokens in the first token unlock of several scheduled over a three-year period. There’s also his wife’s $MELANIA token, which has been comparatively less lucrative, although the team responsible for it (also responsible for the disastrous $LIBRA token) has been quietly dumping tokens for at least $30 million in recent days.16
Of course we can’t forget the NFTs (multiple projects apiece launched by both Donald and Melania Trump), the bitcoin sneakers, and the other associated crypto-related grifts. And then there’s the political benefit via crypto industry donations — over $10 million contributed directly to supporting Trump, and over $200 million and counting raised to influence Congressional races.](/proxy/post_attachment/475898/8889805422.png "Then there’s Trump Media, the firm behind the Truth Social platform, which has recently filed documents disclosing plans to explore something called Truth.Fi, which will include a crypto component [I80]. Trump’s stake in Trump Media is estimated at around $2 billion, and the company recently submitted filings that would allow the trust holding his shares in the company (controlled by Donald Trump Jr.) to sell them.14
Then there are the memecoins [I75]. Trump has already extracted around $350 million from crypto buyers via his $TRUMP token.15 On April 18, he’ll be allowed to sell off another 40 million of the tokens in the first token unlock of several scheduled over a three-year period. There’s also his wife’s $MELANIA token, which has been comparatively less lucrative, although the team responsible for it (also responsible for the disastrous $LIBRA token) has been quietly dumping tokens for at least $30 million in recent days.16
Of course we can’t forget the NFTs (multiple projects apiece launched by both Donald and Melania Trump), the bitcoin sneakers, and the other associated crypto-related grifts. And then there’s the political benefit via crypto industry donations — over $10 million contributed directly to supporting Trump, and over $200 million and counting raised to influence Congressional races.")
![Trump business interests
As we watch Trump dismantling cryptocurrency industry regulations and enforcement, it’s worth revisiting the extent to which he and his family personally profit from their cryptocurrency business interests, which they have been rapidly expanding.
Eric Trump has recently announced American Bitcoin, a company he has co-founded with the CEO of bitcoin mining firm Hut8. American Bitcoin will essentially subsume Hut8’s entire bitcoin mining business under suspiciously friendly terms for the Trumps. As VanEck’s Matthew Sigel noted, “I don’t fully understand the rationale of selling 61,000 miners in exchange for an 80% stake in a subsidiary that they previously owned 100% of. No cash changes hands.”13 Hut8 seems to have decided that favor with the Trump family is worth more than cash.
I’ve gotten some flak in the past for describing World Liberty Financial as the Trumps’ crypto platform, as some liked to reiterate the platform’s claims that they had an arms-length relationship with the Trumps (despite the fact that 75% of protocol revenues go to Trump, and the platform prominently listed the three Trump sons as “ambassadors” [I68]). Now that the election is over, all pretense has been dropped, and the Trump family has taken majority control of the company. The company has raised $550 million in token sales, putting Trump’s cut at almost $400 million. The project still has yet to launch anything, but as I noted last issue, their plans now include lau](/proxy/post_attachment/475897/128910624c.png "Trump business interests
As we watch Trump dismantling cryptocurrency industry regulations and enforcement, it’s worth revisiting the extent to which he and his family personally profit from their cryptocurrency business interests, which they have been rapidly expanding.
Eric Trump has recently announced American Bitcoin, a company he has co-founded with the CEO of bitcoin mining firm Hut8. American Bitcoin will essentially subsume Hut8’s entire bitcoin mining business under suspiciously friendly terms for the Trumps. As VanEck’s Matthew Sigel noted, “I don’t fully understand the rationale of selling 61,000 miners in exchange for an 80% stake in a subsidiary that they previously owned 100% of. No cash changes hands.”13 Hut8 seems to have decided that favor with the Trump family is worth more than cash.
I’ve gotten some flak in the past for describing World Liberty Financial as the Trumps’ crypto platform, as some liked to reiterate the platform’s claims that they had an arms-length relationship with the Trumps (despite the fact that 75% of protocol revenues go to Trump, and the platform prominently listed the three Trump sons as “ambassadors” [I68]). Now that the election is over, all pretense has been dropped, and the Trump family has taken majority control of the company. The company has raised $550 million in token sales, putting Trump’s cut at almost $400 million. The project still has yet to launch anything, but as I noted last issue, their plans now include lau")
@molly0xfff Corruption in this white house, say it ain't so! We didn't see this coming at all! *sarcasm*