Todd Blanche, author of DOJ crypto enforcement memo, now interim AG

The U.S. Department of Justice will be helmed by Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, President Donald Trump announced Thursday, after removing Attorney General Pam Bondi from the position.

Blanche represented Trump in his criminal case in New York prior to Trump’s reelection as U.S. President in 2024. Trump named him deputy attorney general after retaking office.

As deputy attorney general, Blanche ordered the disbanding of the DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which was formed in 2022 under former President Joe Biden, and signed a four-page memo ordering prosecutors not to pursue regulatory violation cases in the crypto industry.

The document was referenced in the Southern District of New York office’s case against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, eventually leading that office to drop a charge against Storm (Storm was later convicted on another charge, and faces a retrial on two more later this year).

According to Blanche’s most recent government ethics disclosure, dated July 10, 2025, Blanche transferred his crypto asset holdings to his children and a grandchild, including Bitcoin BTC$66,790.10, Solana (SOL), ADA$0.2396 and Ethereum (ETH). His disclosure form also noted that he’d held Polygon (MATIC), DOT$1.2378 and Quant (QNT), as well as Coinbase (COIN) stock.

According to ProPublica, he still held these cryptos — somewhere between $159,000 and $485,000 in total — when he signed the enforcement memo, which violated ethics rules and his pledge to divest prior to working on crypto-related matters.