Trump orders crypto working group to draft new regs, explore crypto stockpile

By Hannah Lang and Trevor Hunnicutt

(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order creating a cryptocurrency working group tasked with proposing a new regulatory framework for digital assets, and exploring the creation of a cryptocurrency stockpile.

The much-anticipated action also ordered that banking services for crypto companies be protected, and banned the creation of central bank digital currencies which could compete with existing cryptocurrencies.

The order sees Trump fulfill a campaign trail pledge to be a “crypto president and promote the adoption of digital assets.

That is in stark contrast to President Joe Biden’s regulators which, in a bid to protect Americans from fraud and money laundering, cracked down on crypto companies, suing exchanges Coinbase, Binance, Kraken and dozens more in federal court, alleging they were flouting U.S. laws.

The working group will be made up of the Treasury secretary, attorney general and chairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, along with other agency heads. The group is tasked with developing a regulatory framework for digital assets, including stablecoins– a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the U.S. dollar.

The group is also set to “evaluate the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile… potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts.”

In December, Trump named venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks as the crypto and artificial intelligence czar. He will chair the group, the order said.

If implemented by the relevant regulators, Trump’s expected policy directives have the potential to push cryptocurrencies into the mainstream, regulatory and crypto experts say.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Hannah Lang in Washington)