Key takeaways
- President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday afternoon promoting digital assets and other financial technologies.
- The order established a task force intended to shape White House regulation and policy on cryptocurrency.
- The working group will consider the creation of a national stockpile of digital assets.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday promoting digital assets and other financial technologies.
The order included elements of cryptocurrency-related campaign promises Trump made before his election. He created a task force intended to shape White House regulation and policy regarding crypto and other digital assets. According to the order, Special Advisor for AI and Cryptography David Sacks will chair the group, with participation from the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Homeland Security and others.
In addition to reviewing current crypto regulatory frameworks and establishing new guidelines, the group is also tasked with evaluating the “potential creation and maintenance of a national stockpile of digital assets.” The storage proposal echoes Trump’s calls for a bitcoin stockpile during the election campaign.
Although the order includes a section regarding the promotion and protection of dollar-backed stablecoins globally, it also prohibits the creation of a central bank digital currency in the United States.
Bitcoin traded around $103,000 in the hours following the order’s release, down slightly from levels seen earlier in the day.
