Community reacts to new DoJ crypto enforcement guidelines

The new cryptocurrency enforcement guidelines by the Department of Justice have received a negative response from segments of the crypto community.

Published earlier today by the attorney general for the U.S. William Barr, the DOJ report aims to address the "Uniquely dangerous threats to public safety" cryptocurrency poses.

Citing the words "Crime" or "Criminal" 168 times in the 83-page document, many in the community have interpreted the DoJ's position as a direct attack on crypto that labels the entire sector as an avenue for crime.

Coinshares' CSO Meltem Demirors described the policy document as "a commercial reel of every financial crime known in crypto," asserting that the DoJ's over-emphasis on providing examples of criminal use-cases for crypto fails to address the myriad of legitimate utilities for crypto assets.

Justice Department with more negative spin on how cryptocurrency is a tool of terrorists, rogue regimes, criminals, etc.

The importance of enforcing the laws against such activity.

Some in the Ripple community took umbrage at a line in the report that states: "Ripple Labs willfully violated several requirements of the BSA.".

Earlier this week, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen said the firm is considering moving to the U.K., Switzerland, Singapore, or Japan due to the government's lack of regulatory clarity.

This new framework by the DoJ might fast-track Ripple's decision - and Garlinghouse suggested other companies may follow suit.

Not everyone in the crypto community was against the new framework.