U.S. Representatives Lance Gooden and Josh Gottheimer have introduced the Federal Cryptocurrency Theft Enforcement and Coordination Act, proposing a new task force within the Department of Justice dedicated to cryptocurrency theft. The task force would report directly to the Attorney General or a designee, serving as the federal government's main coordination body for preventing, investigating and prosecuting crypto theft and related crimes.
The bill arrives just over a year after the Justice Department dismantled the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET). In an April 2025 memo first reported by Fortune, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche ordered the unit’s immediate closure, declaring an end to what he called “regulation by prosecution” of the crypto sector. The DOJ stated that prosecutors should shift resources away from exchange, mixer and wallet provider cases, instead focusing on individuals using digital assets to commit crimes or harm investors.
Task Force Scope and Participating Agencies
The proposed body would develop best practices for collecting and analyzing digital evidence, tracing stolen funds, improving investigative techniques, and assisting victims. Senior officials from the DOJ, FBI, Department of Homeland Security (including Homeland Security Investigations), and Treasury (including FinCEN) would participate. The Attorney General could also add other federal law enforcement agencies as needed.
Unlike NCET, the new task force is explicitly barred from regulating cryptocurrency markets, digital assets, financial products or financial institutions. Existing federal regulatory powers, criminal statutes and private rights of action remain unchanged. The focus is purely operational coordination, not market oversight.
FBI Data Highlights Scale of Problem
The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report provides the rationale: 181,565 crypto-related complaints with reported losses exceeding $11 billion. Total cyber-enabled losses for the year approached $21 billion. Lawmakers argue that victims of wallet thefts, phishing attacks and exchange exploits often face fragmented responses across local, federal and international agencies. A dedicated coordination hub aims to concentrate expertise and improve cooperation without expanding federal oversight of crypto markets.
The bill also extends support to state and local authorities through technical guidance, training programs and information-sharing, while coordinating with international partners on cross-border fund movement cases.
NCET’s Legacy
Created during the Biden administration, NCET combined prosecutors from the DOJ’s money laundering and cybercrime divisions, overseeing major crypto investigations. Its caseload included the prosecution of mixer Tornado Cash and co-founder Roman Storm (charged with money laundering, sanctions violations and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business), investigations into North Korean laundering networks tied to crypto theft, and the prosecution of Avraham Eisenberg for the $114 million exploit of Mango Markets.
The Tornado Cash case sparked intense industry debate over whether software developers should face criminal liability for how users employ their code. Whether the new task force will adopt a similar enforcement stance remains to be seen.