Key Takeaways
- Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said crypto developers should not face DOJ scrutiny for writing code alone.
- The comments follow the DOJ’s 2025 memo ending “regulation by prosecution” in digital asset cases.
- DOJ officials have said open-source code contributions do not create criminal liability without specific intent to aid crime.
- Prosecutors can still pursue fraud, money laundering, sanctions evasion, hacking, and criminal financing.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said crypto developers should not face federal scrutiny for writing code with no criminal intent, offering one of the clearest signals yet on how the US government views developer liability.
Blanche made the comments at Bitcoin 2026 in Las Vegas during a panel with FBI Director Kash Patel and Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal.
He said the DOJ and FBI are focused on criminals using crypto, rather than on builders developing software without criminal involvement.
DOJ Reframes Crypto Enforcement
The DOJ’s current stance stems from an April 7, 2025, memo by Blanche titled “Ending Regulation by Prosecution.”
The document made a clear distinction that the Justice Department does not see itself as a digital assets regulator and should not use criminal cases to shape digital asset policy through the courts.
Instead, the memo directs prosecutors toward traditional law enforcement priorities, such as cases with clear victims, ties to criminal networks, or significant illicit finance.
It specifically highlights areas such as terrorism, narcotics and human trafficking, organized crime, hacking, cartel financing, and sanctions-related activity.
Just as importantly, it narrows the scope of who should be targeted.
The DOJ says it will no longer pursue actions against virtual currency exchange, mixing and tumbling services, or offline wallet providers based solely on how end users behave, unless those cases fall within its defined criminal priorities.
DOJ Says Code Alone Is Insufficient
The clearest DOJ statement came in August 2025, when Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti addressed developer liability directly.
“Our view is that merely writing code, without ill intent, is not a crime,” Galeotti said.
He also said that a developer who contributes code to an open-source project without the intent to assist criminal conduct is not criminally liable because someone later misuses the tool.
The statement gave crypto developers a stronger public signal than earlier DOJ enforcement actions had offered.
It also gave defense lawyers a clearer DOJ position to cite in disputes involving open-source software, non-custodial wallets, and decentralized protocols.
The same speech preserved broad criminal enforcement authority.
Galeotti said prosecutors can still pursue people who knowingly commit or assist in crimes involving digital assets.
Intent Becomes the Main Question
The DOJ’s current standard places more weight on intent than on software design alone.
Under the April 2025 memo, prosecutors should avoid criminal charges based on regulatory theories unless they have evidence that a defendant knew of a specific legal requirement and willfully violated it.
The memo listed unlicensed money transmission, Bank Secrecy Act violations, unregistered securities offerings, and registration-related offenses among the areas where prosecutors should proceed carefully.
For developers, that means code publication alone carries less federal risk than it did during the peak of crypto enforcement pressure.
Risk rises when prosecutors can point to direct assistance, internal communications, custody, control over user assets, fees from suspicious flows, marketing to illicit users, concealment services, or evidence that a team knowingly supported criminal activity.
DOJ officials have also said prosecutors should avoid certain unlicensed money-transmission charges when software is truly decentralized, automates only peer-to-peer transactions, and lacks third-party custody or control.
Tornado Cash Keeps the Issue Alive
The developer-liability debate still runs through Tornado Cash.
The case against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm became a reference point because it raised a central industry fear: whether developers can face criminal liability when third parties use privacy tools for illicit transfers.
Crypto advocates have argued that open-source privacy software should receive strong legal protection.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have focused on control, communications, and continued support after illicit use became clear.
The DOJ’s newer language gives developers more reassurance, but the Tornado Cash debate has not disappeared.
Courts still have to decide where software development ends and where knowing facilitation begins.
Samourai Wallet Also Highlights Where Risk Remains
Samourai Wallet remains another important reference point.
The DOJ said in 2025 that Samourai Wallet’s founders were sentenced after prosecutors alleged the service knowingly transmitted more than $237 million in criminal proceeds.
The department described Samourai as a mixing service used to move funds tied to drug trafficking, darknet markets, cyber intrusions, fraud, and sanctioned jurisdictions.
The DOJ viewed that case through the lens of knowledge and criminal proceeds.
That makes it useful for understanding the department’s position. The distinction gives software developers more room under the DOJ’s public guidance, while conduct tied to known criminal proceeds remains exposed to prosecution.
Developers Get More Breathing Room
Blanche’s Bitcoin 2026 comments are likely to reassure open-source developers, wallet builders, and teams working on decentralized infrastructure.
The DOJ has moved away from broad crypto enforcement theories and toward cases with clearer criminal facts.
It also follows the disbanding of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and the redirection of parts of the department away from crypto enforcement work.
That shift narrows the kind of conduct most likely to draw federal charges.
A developer who writes and publishes neutral code now has stronger protection under the DOJ’s public position. A founder who knowingly helps criminal users move illicit funds remains more exposed.
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PhD, researcher and writer exploring AI, blockchain, and the philosophy of tech, with a focus on DeScAI, governance, and trust.
