President Biden Reportedly to Issue Executive Order on Crypto
The Biden administration is expected to introduce an executive order, stimulating agencies to coordinate cryptocurrency rules in the United States.
The U.S. President, Joe Biden, will reportedly introduce an executive order directing government agencies to study the specifics of the cryptocurrency industry, an administration official familiar with the matter reportedly told Yahoo Finance.
The forthcoming directive is expected to be introduced come sometime next week as it will also focus on central bank digital currencies.
What to Expect?
An executive order is a signed, written, and published directive from the President of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. Despite being highly important, it is not official legislation as Congress has the authority to overturn it.
The new executive order will direct a wide range of government agencies to study cryptocurrency and central bank digital currency (CBDC), and come up with a government-wide strategy to regulate crypto assets, the publication conveyed.
Several government bodies, such as Departments of Treasury, State, Justice, and Homeland Security could be asked to design a comprehensive regulatory framework for the industry, including developing a report on the future of money and payment systems.
Crypto proponents have made an argument that the world is going digital, and that bitcoin and the altcoins are leading it. And as such, the future is not cash-based. Fiat currencies are gradually losing their value because of the rising global inflation, which could make cryptocurrencies a more attractive option for investors.
The executive order will also examine consumer, business, and investor protection measures. Other issues it will address include stablecoins, privacy, and distributed ledger technology (DLT). Specifically, the directive might call upon transparency and enhanced Know Your Customer (KYC) rules.
The report also noted that Biden’s administration would coordinate with other nations to standardize the crypto rules.
A question still remains if the US lawmakers will introduce a specially designed cryptocurrency legislation, or they will treat the industry as traditional financial assets such as stocks or bonds.
Biden’s predecessors, Donald Trump and Barack Obama, also issued executive orders on digital assets while being in power. In 2018, Trump signed a directive barring any US-based financial transactions involving Venezuela’s Petro cryptocurrency.
In 2015, Obama allowed authorities to confiscate digital assets connected to “significant malicious cyber-enabled activities.” He also enabled officials to seize such tokens without prior notice.
