This announcement has come as a complete surprise but in the opening paragraph it clearly states their disapproval of the manner the Biden administration (referred to as the prior administration) operated towards crypto:
However, the prior Administration used the Justice Department to pursue a reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution, which was ill conceived and poorly executed. The Justice Department will no longer pursue litigation or enforcement actions that have the effect of superimposing regulatory frameworks on digital assets while President Trump's actual regulators do this work outside the punitive criminal justice framework.The announcement might give theymos an opportunity to reconsider his ban.
I also thought this part was interesting:
"As part of the Justice Department's ongoing work against fentanyl trafficking, terrorism, cartels, and human trafficking and smuggling, the Department will pursue the illicit financing of these enterprises by the individuals and enterprises themselves, including when it involves digital assets, but will not pursue actions against the platforms that these enterprises utilize to conduct their illegal activities.
Ongoing investigations that are inconsistent with the foregoing should be closed."
I wonder if this means the US is dropping its charges against ChipMixer. And I'm guessing it
doesn't mean they would stop going after darknet markets as that's probably a whole different ballgame of criminality according to them.
Now its up to the EU to drop their similar charges against the ChipMixer operator; we'll see if they follow suit in terms of regulations.