Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche published an official DOJ memorandum in April 2025 that marked a shift away from regulation-by-prosecution, instead emphasizing the Department’s focus on pursuing individual bad actors who use cryptocurrency services for criminal purposes, rather than prosecuting the platforms themselves

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Instead, the DOJ said it planned to pursue cases involving harm done to investors or those using crypto in crimes, including terrorism and hacks, among others. That also meant the DOJ won't pursue cases involving market intermediaries, and instead will go after bad actors using the platform.

The DOJ’s affirmation of charges against Storm follows the circulation of an agency memo last month that said it will no longer—in most cases—pursue charges against mixing services, among other entities like exchanges. In the memo, the DOJ also stated that it would go after bad actors using a crypto service to launder funds, as opposed to the platform itself.