The US Department of Justice is disbanding its national cryptocurrency enforcement team.
In a memo sent to justice department employees, deputy attorney general Todd Blanche says the team "shall be disbanded effective immediately".
Taking a swipe at Joe Biden's administration, Blanche says: "The department of justice is not a digital assets regulator. However, the prior administration used the justice department to pursue a reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution, which was ill conceived and poorly executed."
He continues: "The Justice Department will no longer pursue litigation or enforcement actions that have the effect of superimposing regulatory frameworks on digital assets while President Trump's actual regulators do this work outside the punitive criminal justice framework."
Stressing the Trump administration's embrace of crypto, as "critical" to US economic development, Blanche says the department's “investigations and prosecutions involving digital assets shall focus on prosecuting individuals who victimize digital asset investors, or those who use digital assets in furtherance of criminal offenses".
That means it will no longer pursue crypto exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, or offline wallets for the actions of their users or “unwitting violations of regulations”.
Prosecutors have been told to close ongoing investigations that do not align with the new priorities.
Since Trump took office, regulators, including the SEC, have looked to reset their relationship with the crypto industry, dropping cases and changing rules.
Trump and his family have also been enthusiastic crypto players. He launched his own meme coin, $Trump, shortly before his inauguration, which crashed after First Lady Melania released her meme coin, $Melania.