Biden signs executive order on crypto amid surging US adoption
US President Joe Biden has signed a highly anticipated executive order subjecting the crypto industry to governmental oversight.
The Biden administration said that an explosion of interest in crypto last year has created an opportunity to examine the role of digital assets in the nation’s future payments landscape.
Under the executive order Biden is compelling government departments such as the US Treasury to cooperate on establishing consumer protections, financial stability and preventing illicit uses of crypto.
Brian Deese and Jake Sullivan, Biden’s top economic and national security advisers, commented on the order which establishes the first federal digital assets strategy for the United States.
“That will help position the U.S. to keep playing a leading role in the innovation and governance of the digital assets ecosystem at home and abroad, in a way that protects consumers, is consistent with our democratic values and advances U.S. global competitiveness,” Deese and Sullivan said today in a joint statement.
The sense of urgency felt by global regulators has been amplified by concerns that Russian individuals could be using crypto to evade economic sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine. Last week Democratic Senators including Elizabeth Warren, Mark Warner, and Jack Reed asked the Treasury Department to explain how it intends to stop crypto being used for illicit purposes.
Widespread adoption of crypto has also prompted lawmakers to bring crypto under regulatory oversight. An estimated 16 per cent of American adults, some 40m people, having invested in, traded or used cryptocurrencies according to the US government.
Bitcoin has rallied over eight per cent in the past 24 hours and it trading close to $42,000 at the time of writing. The surge was driven when a statement about the executive order penned by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was released ahead of schedule last night.
Markets reacted positively to comments revealing the crypto executive order will support “responsible innovation,” a sentiment echoed in a subsequent White House briefing on the order.
Read more: Executive order: Bitcoin rallies nine per cent on leaked Yellen statement