Following the removal of Attorney General Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche has been named the interim head of the U.S. Department of Justice, as announced by President Donald Trump. Blanche previously served as Trump's attorney in a New York criminal case before being appointed deputy attorney general after Trump's re-election in 2024.
In his role as deputy attorney general, Blanche disbanded the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, established in 2022 under the Biden administration, and issued a memo instructing prosecutors to refrain from pursuing regulatory cases in the cryptocurrency industry. This memo was cited in a case involving Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, resulting in the dismissal of a charge against him. According to Blanche's government ethics disclosure, dated July 10, 2025, he transferred his cryptocurrency holdings, including Bitcoin, Solana, ADA, and Ethereum, to his children and a grandchild.
The disclosure also noted that he had held Polygon, DOT, Quant, and Coinbase stock. However, it has been reported that Blanche still held these cryptocurrencies, valued between $159,000 and $485,000, when he signed the enforcement memo, which raises concerns about ethics violations and his pledge to divest from crypto-related matters.