Trump names Todd Blanche as acting attorney general; former deputy authored DOJ crypto memo

U.S. President Donald Trump has removed Attorney General Pam Bondi and tapped Todd Blanche—his former personal lawyer and most recently deputy attorney general—to serve as acting attorney general, CoinDesk reported. During his tenure as deputy attorney general, Blanche dismantled the Department of Justice's National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) and signed a memo directing prosecutors to stop pursuing cryptocurrency cases based on regulatory violations. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York later cited that memo in its case against Roman Storm, a developer of Tornado Cash, a move that ultimately resulted in one charge being dropped. ProPublica previously reported that when Blanche signed the crypto enforcement memo, he still held cryptocurrency assets valued at roughly $159,000 to $485,000, including BTC, ETH, SOL and ADA. The holdings raised potential ethics concerns and appeared to conflict with a prior commitment to divest before taking up crypto-related matters. His latest government ethics disclosure indicates the assets have since been transferred into the names of his children and grandchildren.