The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) axed its crypto unit on Monday, telling staff that the DOJ would be “narrowing” its crypto enforcement activities in accordance with U.S. President Donald Trump’s January executive order on digital assets, which pledged to establish “regulatory clarity and certainty” for the crypto industry.

In his four-page memo to staff titled “Ending Regulation by Prosecution,” U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) — created in 2022 under then-President Joe Biden — would be “disbanded effective immediately.”

“The Department of Justice is not a digital assets regulator,” Blanche wrote in the memo seen by CoinDesk. “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.”

Blanche informed staff that the DOJ would no longer be pursuing cases against crypto exchanges, mixing services or offline wallets “for the acts of their end users or unwitting violations of regulations.” Staff were ordered not to charge regulatory violations in cases involving crypto, including violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), unlicensed money transmitting and other violations tied to federal securities and commodities laws.

Instead, DOJ staff were ordered to focus their resources on “prosecuting individuals who victimize digital asset investors” or who use crypto in the furtherance of criminal activities like terrorism or gang financing.

“Ongoing investigations that are inconsistent with the foregoing should be closed,” Blanche wrote, adding that his office will work with the DOJ’s criminal division to “review ongoing cases for consistency with this policy.”

NCET is not the first federal crypto task force to be disbanded since Trump took office in January. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) slashed a number of specialized enforcement teams, including a crypto-focused team, down to just two as part of Acting Chair Caroline Pham’s plan to increase efficiency and “stop regulation by enforcement.”

NCET worked on many of the DOJ’s high profile crypto cases in recent years, including crypto mixer Tornado Cash and several of its developers and Mango Markets exploiter Avi Eisenberg, who faces sentencing later this week after being convicted of fraud and market manipulation.

The memo comes a week and a half after Trump pardoned crypto trading platform BitMEX and its founders and senior executives following their past guilty pleas to Bank Secrecy Act charges.

Frank Spiteri, head of asset management at CoinShares (CS), left the crypto investment manager recently, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

His departure was not part of a wider cull at the Saint Helier, Jersey-based company, which is currently recruiting for a number of positions, said one of the people who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.

Spiteri did not respond to a request for comment by publication time. CoinShares declined to comment.

Spiteri has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and worked for CoinShares for over five years in London. Prior to CoinShares, he was employed as head of European distribution and capital markets at ETF issuer WisdomTree, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In February, Stockholm-listed CoinShares reported one of its strongest quarters to date. Fourth-quarter revenue rose to £48.3 million versus £31.6 million a year earlier.

Coinbase (COIN) is more than just a crypto trading platform, Wall Street broker Cantor said in a research report Tuesday, initiating coverage of the stock.

Cantor assumed coverage of the crypto exchange with an overweight rating and a $245 price target. In early trading, the shares were up more than 5%.

«Markets are missing what it is doing beyond trading, particularly with its L2 (Base) and its stablecoin relationship with Circle,» analysts Brett Knoblauch and Thomas Shinske wrote. Coinbase shares are attractive at current levels, as they are trading at around a 32% discount to historical valuation multiples, the report added.

The broker sees both these segments as «instrumental in changing the narrative surrounding COIN, from being a cyclical crypto trading platform to being a mission-critical infrastructure of the crypto economy.»

The report said the shares are expected to re-rate higher once investors have increased visibility into the earnings potential of Base and stablecoins.

Base gives Coinbase an edge, the report said. The layer 2’s strong user growth creates a «flywheel effect» that benefits the crypto exchange with more transaction fees.

Cantor said the stablecoin opportunity is also being underappreciated by the market, especially given the potential for these cryptocurrencies to displace traditional finance cross-border payment rails.

Read more: Cathie Wood’s ARK Buys Over $13M Worth Coinbase Shares During Market Rout