Todd Blanche Becomes Acting Attorney General after Trump Removes Pam Bondi

Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general who signed the Justice Department’s April 2025 crypto enforcement memo, will now serve as acting attorney general after President Donald Trump removed Pam Bondi from the post. The move places the creator of the DOJ’s “Ending Regulation by Prosecution” policy at the top of the department, at least temporarily.

Trump Names Blanche to Lead the Justice Department

Trump said on April 2 that Bondi would leave the department and that Blanche would serve as acting attorney general. Blanche had been deputy attorney general after joining the administration during Trump’s second term.

Before entering government, Blanche was known as one of Trump’s personal defense attorneys. He represented Trump in the New York criminal case before moving into senior Justice Department leadership.

The appointment places Blanche in charge of DOJ at a time when its digital asset enforcement policy has already shifted sharply.

Blanche Signed the DOJ’s Crypto Enforcement Memo

As deputy attorney general, Blanche signed the April 7, 2025, memorandum titled “Ending Regulation by Prosecution.” The document said DOJ would stop using criminal enforcement to impose regulatory frameworks on digital assets and instead focus on fraud, investor harm, terrorism, narcotics, cartels, hacking, and human trafficking.

The memo also directed prosecutors not to pursue certain regulatory cases unless there was evidence of willful violations. It said the department should avoid litigating whether a digital asset is a security or commodity when alternative criminal charges were available. One of the clearest structural changes was the immediate disbanding of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team.

Ethics Questions Follow Blanche’s Crypto Holdings and Transfer Disclosures

Blanche’s public financial disclosure showed crypto-related holdings valued between $159,000 and $485,000 before he entered office, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and other digital assets, along with Coinbase stock.

In his ethics agreement, Blanche said he would divest those holdings within 90 days of Senate confirmation and would not participate in matters that would have a direct and predictable effect on his virtual-currency interests until divestment was complete.

A later periodic transaction report shows that he transferred crypto-related assets to adult children and a grandchild in June 2025. A January complaint filed by the Campaign Legal Center argued that Blanche had taken part in DOJ crypto policy work before that divestment was completed and asked the department’s inspector general to investigate.

Acting AG Role Keeps DOJ’s Crypto Policy Shift in Blanche’s Hands

Blanche’s move to acting attorney general leaves the department’s crypto policy in the hands of the same official who signed its most consequential memo on digital asset enforcement under Trump’s second administration.

That means the April 2025 policy framework remains tied directly to the acting head of the department, not only to a lower-ranking official inside DOJ.