- US President Donald Trump signed a lengthy executive order concerning crypto Thursday.
- Major cryptocurrencies dipped on the news.
In a wide-ranging executive order Thursday, US President Donald Trump demanded a major overhaul of crypto policy as well as a study that would evaluate the creation of a “national digital asset stockpile.”
The president also banned central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, and created a new “working group on digital asset markets” that will include top economic, law enforcement, and national security officials, according to a text of the order shared on the White House website.
With the executive order, Trump, a former crypto-sceptic, has honored several commitments he made during his presidential campaign in order to win the support of the crypto industry.
Nevertheless, major cryptocurrencies dipped after the publication of the executive order.
One possible culprit: the order states that a crypto stockpile would “potentially [be] derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts.”
Some crypto proponents had hoped the long-promised stockpile would include the purchase of cryptocurrency, rather than merely holding onto cryptocurrency it already had.
Bitcoin, XRP, and Solana each fell more than 2% on the news. Ethereum fell more than 1%.
Promises made and kept
Trump called Bitcoin “a scam against the dollar” in 2021.
He began changing his tune in May of last year, when he told a crowd gathered at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, “If you’re in favour of crypto you’d better vote for Trump.”
At a Bitcoin conference in June, he went even further and pledged that he would hold onto crypto seized by law enforcement, block the development of CBDCs, pardon Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, defend self-custody of digital assets, and sign laws “written by people who love your industry.”
But his biggest announcement that day was his promise that he would not sell Bitcoin held by the US government.
On Tuesday, Trump announced he had unconditionally pardoned Ulbricht, who was serving a life sentence for creating Silk Road, a dark web marketplace where users could use Bitcoin to buy drugs and other illicit goods and services.
Thursday’s executive order appeared to honor the president’s other promises.
Within 60 days, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, “and other relevant agencies” will have to recommend changes to any laws affecting digital assets.
Within 180 days, a newly established “working group on digital asset markets” will have to recommend a “Federal regulatory framework” that governs the “issuance and operation of digital assets.” A bill that divided the industry passed the House last year with bipartisan support but died in the Senate.
That working group will be chaired by David Sacks, whom Trump tapped as his crypto and artificial intelligence czar. It will also include the heads of the Treasury Department, the Commerce Department, the SEC, the CFTC, the DOJ, the Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies.
The order also bans the development of CBDCs; rescinds memoranda from the administration of President Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, that focused on the risks posed by the crypto industry; and announced the Trump administration’s commitment to self-custody and to “fair and open access to banking services.”
“President Trump has promised to make this administration the most pro-digital asset in US history, and within these first days, he is already fulfilling that promise,” Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, said.
Aleks Gilbert is DL News’ New York-based DeFi correspondent. You can contact him at aleks@dlnews.com.
