About one month ago, financial experts predicted that President Joe Biden would sign a cryptocurrency executive order. The goal, according to Yahoo Finance, was to pave the way for the regulation and the adoption of the popular decentralized form of payment.
On March 9, 2022, Biden’s cryptocurrency executive order was finally signed, sealed, and delivered to the American people. According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the effort will “promote a fairer, more inclusive, and more efficient financial system,” per the Associated Press. In the same breath, Secretary Yellen says that she hopes the measure will counter any illicit use of the popular coins — and illicit use, she says, is tantamount to the country’s financial instability and a threat to national security. The Biden administration also says that the exploding popularity of cryptocurrency has inspired the President to pass the order.
All of that is really nice political window-dressing, to be sure. But what does it all really mean — and, specifically, does Biden’s order have any sort of impact on the average crypto investor? If so, what does it mean for them?
Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about President Biden’s cryptocurrency executive order — and what it may mean for you.
President Biden may be gearing up for the United States to create its own digital currency — but the U.S. wouldn't be the first country to have one.
Under President Biden’s cryptocurrency executive order, the President would like the Treasury Department to divert some of its funds and resources into researching the possibility of the United States using digital currency — an e-dollar, if you will — per CoinDesk.
If the Treasury Department does indeed succeed in getting an e-dollar in play, the United States wouldn’t be the first country to use digital currency. As AfroTech previously reported, Nigeria has been leading the charge with their e-Naira digital currency. And Ghana, too, has its own form of digital currency called the e-Cedi.
It could be tied to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Without getting too deep into the weeds of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to the New York Post, “The move comes as administration officials have raised concerns in recent weeks about Russia’s use of cryptocurrency to evade the impact of crushing sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine.”
There's no mention of the United States accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment.
As AfroTech previously reported, El Salvador is currently one of the few countries that are accepting Bitcoin as a form of legal tender. CNBC, however, confirms that Biden isn’t quite yet looking into the United States accepting Bitcoin — or other crypto-coins — as a form of legal tender quite yet.
Right now, the cryptocurrency executive order just entails research.
As of this writing, “regular degular” crypto investors don’t have anything to worry about when it comes to their money. It’s safe for now.
Kiplingers, however, makes clear that while the executive order is currently strictly focused on the research aspect of cryptocurrency, it could expand its reach depending on what the research bears out.
“Biden’s new cryptocurrency executive order positions the government as more of a steward for digital-asset innovation in the U.S. It also recognizes a need to provide consumer and investor protections, much as the federal agencies currently do for other securities bought and sold on public markets,” reports the outlet.
