Trump to nominate Todd Blanche as permanent attorney general, cementing crypto-friendly DOJ shift

President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Todd Blanche as the permanent Attorney General of the United States, subject to Senate confirmation. Blanche has been serving as acting AG since April 2026, when he stepped into the role following the dismissal of Pam Bondi.

Blanche’s path to the top of the Justice Department has been methodical. The Senate confirmed him as Deputy Attorney General on March 5, 2025, with a 52-46 vote. Within weeks, he made his mark.

In April 2025, Blanche issued a memo titled “Ending Regulation By Prosecution” that sent shockwaves through both legal and crypto circles. The directive was blunt: the DOJ “is not a digital assets regulator.”

The memo ordered the disbandment of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, the unit that had been the tip of the spear for federal crypto prosecutions. It also redirected the DOJ’s Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit away from cryptocurrency cases entirely. Instead, Blanche pushed the DOJ toward traditional crime categories like fraud against individual victims and terrorism financing.

CoinDesk named Blanche one of its “Most Influential” figures in December 2025, specifically citing his enforcement policy overhaul.

At the time of his appointment as Deputy AG, financial disclosures revealed he held Bitcoin valued between $100,000 and $250,000. Blanche pledged to divest his digital asset holdings and completed that process by June 2025 using a combination of gifts and sales.

Blanche issued his landmark memo in April 2025 while still holding crypto. He didn’t fully divest until two months later. Whether that sequence presents a genuine conflict or merely an awkward optical problem is likely to come up during his confirmation hearings.

Trump dismissed Bondi from the AG role in April 2026, installing Blanche as acting head of the department. Before entering government, Blanche was a defense attorney who represented Trump in the former president’s New York criminal case.

Blanche’s April 2025 memo drew a bright line: the DOJ would pursue actual fraud and terrorist financing in digital assets while leaving broader regulatory questions to agencies like the SEC and CFTC. The disbandment of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team means fewer dedicated federal resources focused on crypto-specific crime.

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