- U.S. Senators have called the DOJ to reconsider its decision to halt crypto investigations and dismantle the NCET.
- Lawmakers have accused the DOJ of safeguarding Trump’s crypto interests.
Six U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren, have written to the Department of Justice to reconsider its decision and restore the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET). The Senators voiced their concern regarding such a move undermining the fight against unlawful financial transactions linked to digital assets.
In a letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the decision enables people to launder virtual currencies and avoid sanctions easily. The Senators noted that those involved in criminal activities, including drug peddlers and terrorists, may take advantage of the scenario.
Blanche argued, as we had reported, that the DOJ had a strategic shift to prioritize areas such as immigration fraud and procurement crimes. However, the Senators have noted that there can be conflicts of interest and referred to President Donald Trump and his family’s engagements in the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies. They claimed the decision would allow Trump to conceal his crypto transactions from the legal justice system.
The letter termed the DOJ’s action as a “grave mistake” that does not go well with the country’s interest in the war on terror. The Senators urged Blanche to reconsider the disbandment of NCET and reinstate strong measures against crypto crimes.
SEC Faces Pressure to Investigate Trump’s Tariff Market Moves
The controversy surrounding Trump’s relationship with cryptocurrency extends beyond the DOJ decision. In a separate letter, the Democrats in the Senate urged the SEC to investigate whether Trump engaged in market manipulation.
The Senators blamed Trump for manipulating the stock market by issuing tariffs and putting a halt after 90 days, which boosted the markets. The worry is that some of the insiders close to Trump benefited from the early call to announce a pause in tariffs.
“We urge the SEC to investigate whether the tariff announcements, which caused the market crash and subsequent partial recovery.”
The letter.
The Senators said that Trump provoked the stock market through unpredictable tariffs and then a 90-day tariff freeze. Hours later, the S&P 500 recorded one of its best days since the 2008 financial crisis. The Senators claimed that this chain of events is enough to warrant an SEC investigation of the possibility of insider trading.
At the time of this writing, Bitcoin, like most cryptocurrencies, is trading higher in comparison to the low levels set last week. The first decline occurred shortly after President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs, which led to massive sales on the market.
Additionally, the letter described the Trump administration’s attempts to weaken the agency through the elimination of positions and alteration of policies. The Senators also claimed that those acts impaired the SEC’s ability to control events that involved large-scale activities in the market.
The SEC has also recently released guidelines on disclosures on companies with cryptocurrency investments. As CNF reported, the guidance requires corporations to report descriptive information about their risks concerning the crypto offerings.
