Biden’s Executive Order on Crypto

The long-awaited executive order on cryptocurrencies from President Biden was just released today to much fanfare from the community. For those following our recent articles on government oversight, the order was close to what was already anticipated with the key takeaway being that the future purview of this administration is not as draconian as some feared.

Originally, the order was slated to be released last month but global affairs and more pressing domestic concerns likely contributed to it being delayed. While the government views cryptocurrencies as an important topic to address, it will be a while before tangible policy or regulation is enacted. Even now there is contention between politicians on how to approach the subject, with many using the recent war as the basis for tighter regulations.

As such, the delay in releasing the order was significant in one major way – it made room for language aimed at the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, paying particular attention to the newly appointed sanctions on Russia. In Section 2 defined as “Objectives,” it is made clear that the government intends to combat the use of crypto for illicit activity. Citing dangers to national security, the administration expressed concern over the ways in which crypto could be used as a “tool to circumvent United States and foreign financial sanctions regimes.”  

There remains much to dissect from the order but it’s obvious that the aim of the Biden Administration is to be flexible with the landscape of digital currency. True, much of it was left vague and open-ended for the fact that they are still determining the direction of policy to take. On the other hand, it’s important to remember that no matter the bullish outlook of the community or benign language, it was made clear that the government's priority is for the US dollar to continue to hold dominance in the global financial system. 

This indicates that while the government is open to changing with the times, there’s no mistaking that a competition of legal tender will never occur. As such, the legal definitions of cryptocurrency will likely remain classified as a security with the possibility of it being recognized as an official legal tender highly improbable.