DOJ Pledges No Charges for Crypto Devs Without Crime Links

Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche pledged the DOJ will not pursue blockchain developers who have nothing to do with illegal activity.

Blanche spoke at a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas on Monday alongside FBI Director Kash Patel and Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal. He said the government has fundamentally changed the game when it comes to crypto investigations.

"The basic principle is that if you are developing software, if you are a coder, if you are part of that process and you are not the third-party user, and you are not helping and knowing the third party is using what you developed to commit crimes, you are not going to be investigated and not going to be charged," Blanche said.

The shift in DOJ approach comes as SEC crypto-specific penalties collapsed 97% from ₱299.78 billion ($4.9 billion) in 2024 to ₱8.69 billion ($142 million) in 2025. Anti-money laundering enforcement has surged to fill the gap, with AML fines hitting ₱64.85 billion ($1.06 billion) in the first half of 2025 alone. DOJ settled with exchange OKX for ₱30.83 billion ($504 million) in February 2025, then hit KuCoin with a $297 million settlement in January. Transaction monitoring failures and missing licenses are now drawing the biggest penalties as Basel rules and mandatory audits reshape crypto compliance.

Meanwhile, payments company Paystand launched USDb, a dollar-backed stablecoin issued on Bitcoin-linked rails through Rootstock. The Santa Cruz-based firm already processes $20 billion in payments for over 1 million businesses. Blockstream is providing infrastructure interoperability and Ibex will serve as initial minting partner with the January launch.