Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche has pledged not to pursue blockchain developers if they have nothing to do with illegal activity conducted using their software. Bernstein analysts see IREN to wean itself from bitcoin mining revenue as it pivots to AI cloud operator and a new Blockchain for Europe report says the European Union's MiCA regulations have made euro stablecoins safer but less competitive.

Acting AG Todd Blanche confirms ‘code is not a crime’ in DOJ pivot

Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the US Department of Justice and FBI are no longer targeting blockchain developers over platforms used for illegal activity, instead shifting focus to the users engaged in financial crime.

Speaking at a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas alongside FBI Director Kash Patel and Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal on Monday, Blanche said that the approach to enforcement has significantly changed under the Trump administration.

Source: Cointelegraph

The acting attorney general explained that as long as developers have nothing to do with illicit activity, the DOJ and FBI have no reason to go after them, noting that "we have fundamentally changed the game when it comes to our investigations."

“The basic principle is that if you are developing software, if you are a coder, if you are part of that process and you are not the third-party user, and you are not helping and knowing the third party is using what you developed to commit crimes, you are not going to be investigated and not going to be charged,” he said.

Bernstein sees IREN pivoting from Bitcoin mining to $3.7B AI cloud business

IREN could become the next major Bitcoin miner to transition into AI infrastructure following its multi-billion-dollar deal with Microsoft, underscoring a broader shift in mining economics, according to a new research report from Bernstein.

The Bernstein analysts point to IREN’s rapidly expanding AI cloud division, where around 150,000 GPUs are already contracted, supporting an estimated $3.7 billion in annual revenue run rate once fully functional.

A significant portion of this capacity is tied to a long-term agreement with Microsoft, which has committed to using GPU capacity for AI workloads over five years. The deal also includes substantial customer prepayments, helping fund the infrastructure buildout.

In total, IREN’s roughly $5.8 billion GPU investment is largely funded through a combination of Microsoft customer prepayments and GPU-backed financing facilities, alongside additional cash and capital sources, helping keep borrowing costs relatively low.

Bernstein expects this shift to fundamentally reshape IREN's business model.

Bernstein expects IREN’s AI cloud revenue to be its primary source of income in the coming years. Source: Bernstein

MiCA has made euro stablecoins safe but weak, new report argues

A new report released Monday from industry group Blockchain for Europe argues that the European Union’s flagship crypto laws, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework, have produced euro-denominated stablecoins that are ultra-safe but commercially weak, leaving the bloc far behind US dollar-pegged tokens in digital payments and trading.

The report cites DeFiLlama data that euro stablecoins account for less than 1% of global stablecoin volume despite the euro’s much larger role in global markets, and argues that MiCA has pushed them onto the “downward-sloping” part of a regulatory "Laffer" curve, where stricter rules reduce the activity they are meant to govern.

Drafted by European Central Bank official Ulrich Bindseil and Blockchain for Europe’s Erwin Voloder, the report focuses on MiCA’s rules for euro electronic money tokens, or EMTs, which must be fully backed and are barred from paying interest.

That remuneration ban was designed to prevent stablecoins from becoming deposit substitutes, but the authors say it leaves MiCA-compliant euro tokens “at a particular disadvantage” in a positive-rate environment, especially versus bank deposits and foreign currency stablecoins that can embed or distribute yield through other mechanisms. They argue this combination of strict safeguards and zero interest has created a safe but structurally uncompetitive euro stablecoin segment.

The report places these constraints in a broader policy debate over how MiCA compares with other jurisdictions and how Europe should respond.

Reforming MiCA for Euro Stablecoins. Source: Blockchain for Europe