Who Runs Crypto Policy at the Justice Department?

Todd Blanche just got a big promotion. He’s now in charge of the Department of Justice after his boss, Pam Bondi, was let go. Blanche used to be a top lawyer for Trump before this shift. People are talking about what his new job means for cryptocurrency. Blanche has a complicated history with crypto. Last year, he talked about making things easier for the crypto industry. He shut down a team that focused on crypto crimes and told prosecutors to stop going after crypto exchanges and services used by bad actors. But he also owns a lot of crypto himself. When he started working for the government, he had between $100, 000 and $250, 000 in Bitcoin, plus other coins like Ethereum and Solana. Later, he moved those assets to family members.Not everyone is happy with his approach. Even though he pushed for friendlier rules, his team still went after crypto software developers. These developers built tools to protect privacy or mix transactions—things that can be used by criminals but also by regular users. Last year, two developers were sent to prison for creating Bitcoin privacy software. Another developer, Roman Storm, was convicted of running an illegal money service but avoided conviction on other charges. Now, federal prosecutors want to retry him on those remaining charges. Critics say Blanche’s actions don’t match his words. Peter Van Valkenburgh from Coin Center called the situation "a very bad state" for the crypto world. Developers and privacy advocates worry that the government is sending mixed signals. They want clear rules, not cases that seem to go back and forth. The question now is whether Blanche’s leadership will bring real change or keep the confusion going.