Trump publishes an executive order to protect the rights of citizens and companies to use cryptocurrencies

What’s new? Donald Trump’s executive order on strengthening US leadership in digital financial technology and protecting economic freedom has been published on the White House website. In it, the 47th president emphasizes that his administration’s policies will support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain, and related technologies in all sectors of the economy.

Text of the executive order

What else is known? The authorities intend to protect and encourage citizens and private companies to use public blockchains for legitimate purposes, including developing and deploying software, engaging in mining and staking, storing digital assets independently (non-custodial), and conducting transactions without unfair censorship.

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In addition, Trump will establish a working group on digital asset markets, led by a special advisor on AI and cryptography, which will include, among others, the Secretaries of Treasury, Commerce, and Homeland Security, as well as the Attorney General, the Assistant to the President for National Economic Policy (APEP), and the heads of the market regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

In 180 days from the date of the executive order, the working group must submit a report to Trump recommending regulatory and legislative proposals to help fulfill the executive order’s goals.

In particular, it should work with industry representatives to propose a bill on cryptocurrency and stablecoin regulation, consumer protection, and risk management.

In addition, officials should explore the possibility of creating a national strategic bitcoin reserve from assets previously seized by law enforcement officials as part of investigations.

A separate section states that the Secretary of the Treasury should take all necessary measures to ensure compliance with the policy set out in the decree. The document also repeals the provisions of Treasury Department Order 14067 on international cooperation in the field of digital assets, which may conflict with the new document.

The executive order commits the administration to protecting the sovereignty of the US dollar by promoting the development of legitimate dollar-pegged stablecoins around the world, as well as protecting cryptocurrencies’ fair access to banking services.

The latter is especially relevant, given that the Coinbase exchange had previously obtained confirmation through the court that federal regulators under Joe Biden had conducted a campaign to disconnect crypto firms from banks.

Separately, the new executive order mentions the need to create clear rules for the crypto industry that consider the latest technologies. It is also worth noting here that under Biden, the SEC did not develop guidelines for crypto firms and continued to regulate the industry through lawsuits, relying on the securities laws of the first half of the last century.

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In addition, Trump, as promised in his campaign, intends to ban the creation of the digital dollar because it threatens the privacy and sovereignty of the country.

The executive order also introduces some definitions. For example, a digital asset refers to any digital representation of value that is registered in a distributed ledger, including cryptocurrencies, digital tokens, and stablecoins.

In turn, blockchain refers to any open-source technology where data is transmitted over a network to create a public registry of confirmed transactions or information among network participants, linked using cryptography to maintain the integrity of the registry and perform other functions, and distributed to participants in an automated manner to update the state of the registry and other functions simultaneously.