Odaily Planet Daily News Trump promised during his campaign to relax cryptocurrency enforcement, and current and former U.S. government lawyers said at a conference in New York on Friday that this change will happen as Trump readjusts the policies of the Justice Department and regulators. Lawyers said cryptocurrency fraud cases will not get a free pass, but they are no longer a priority. The focus of government agencies and departments may shift to areas such as immigration enforcement, which was another promise made by Trump during the campaign. Scott Hartman, co-chair of the Securities and Commodities Working Group of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office, said the office will reduce resources invested in cryptocurrency-related crimes. This means that there will be fewer prosecutors handling cryptocurrency cases than when the cryptocurrency industry collapsed in 2022 and triggered the "crypto winter." Hartman said the securities and commodities task force currently has 16 prosecutors, "I'm short on staff right now, and I hope they don't cut it any further." Steve Pelkin, a partner at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell who led SEC enforcement efforts during President Trump's term from 2017 to 2021, said: "There will probably be a lot of resources reallocated to immigration enforcement. I would be surprised if it doesn't." The lawyers made the above remarks a day before Trump said he would nominate Jay Claton as the new U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. Claton served as Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Commodities Commission during the previous Trump administration. Under Claton's leadership, the SEC has handled some cryptocurrency cases, but the agency has not been as aggressive as the agency under current Chairman Gary Gensler. (CryptoSlate)

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