After a brief delay caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine, US President Joe Biden is expected to sign the executive order about cryptocurrency regulations this week. In it, sources said Biden would cooperate with other allies to ensure they were all on the same page.
The delay of the executive decree
CryptoPotato reported on Feb. 20 the anticipation regarding Biden’s latest executive order, which concerned regulation in the cryptocurrency space. This was to take place the following week, but plans changed when the Russian Federation launched a “special military operation” against Ukraine.
Instead of getting directly involved in the conflict, the US and its Western allies decided to take another approach and incorporated countless sanctions against Russia, its president, oligarchs, and everyone in between.
Amidst these measures came the role of cryptocurrencies. On the one hand, reports have claimed that Russians (and Ukrainians) have turned to digital assets while their national currencies have fallen as trading volumes soared. On the other hand, global watchdogs have raised concerns that Russian oligarchs could use the asset class to circumvent sanctions.
While that seems highly unlikely, at least according to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Biden postponed the signing of the crypto executive order until further notice.
Biden’s crypto executive order this week?
Apart from the aforementioned participation, cryptocurrencies played another role in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine as donations of digital assets soared within days of the invasion. This appeared to be the first time government officials had requested crypto contributions.
With the growing role of digital assets, new reports emerged now saying that Biden’s executive order on the asset class will be this week. Citing sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that the POTUS is expected to propose a “wide-ranging oversight of the cryptocurrency market – including an executive order – to deal with the growing threat of ransomware and other cybercrime.”
With events and concerns over Russia’s involvement in crypto, Biden also wants to coordinate his country’s actions with its NATO allies, the sources said.
Additionally, they said he will also direct the Treasury, the Department of Justice, and other government agencies to outline a possible scenario on how the nation could adopt a central bank digital currency. The US has dabbled with this idea for a while but has yet to make a decisive move, while other countries, such as China, are well ahead.
