President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to promote the use of digital assets while providing regulatory transparency around cryptocurrencies and bitcoin.
“The digital asset industry plays a crucial role in innovation and economic development in the United States, as well as our Nation’s international leadership. It is therefore the policy of my Administration to support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain technology, and related technologies across all sectors of the economy…,” the order states.
Trump’s order seeks to open access to public blockchain networks while maintaining federal regulatory on digital assets, including central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), a type of currency that only exists virtually.
In his order, Trump calls on federal regulators to provide “regulatory clarity and certainty built on technology-neutral regulations, frameworks that account for emerging technologies, transparent decision making, and well-defined jurisdictional regulatory boundaries,” and to take “measures to protect Americans from the risks of Central Bank Digital Currencies [CBDCs]… including by prohibiting the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use of a CBDC within the jurisdiction of the United States.”
The order also calls for the creation of a working group on digital assets, which will include the attorney general, secretaries of the Homeland Security and Treasury departments, and the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), among others, and will be chaired by a special advisor for artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto.
Per the order, Trump’s working group will be responsible for proposing a federal regulatory framework that will oversee the issuance and operation of digital assets, including stablecoins. It will also “evaluate the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile and propose criteria for establishing such a stockpile, potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts.”
The order comes just a week after Trump named Mark Uyeda as the SEC’s acting secretary, pending Senate confirmation on Paul Atkin’s nomination for chair.
Since then, Uyeda has announced the launch of a crypto task force, to be led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce. Uyeda says the task force aims to develop a regulatory framework on crypto assets and will coordinate with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, along with other federal departments and agencies, on the outline.
“We look forward to working hand-in-hand with the public to foster a regulatory environment that protects investors, facilitates capital formation, fosters market integrity, and supports innovation,” stated Peirce in the announcement.
Trump, Melania meme coins
Trump’s push towards crypto comes as the president, along with First Lady Melania Trump, issued their own cryptocurrencies in the form of meme coins earlier this month.
The formation and issuance of the coins, called $TRUMP and $MELANIA, received mixed responses from lawmakers and leaders in the crypto industry. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), along with Representative Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), wrote a letter to the United States Office of Government Ethics (OGE), the Treasury Department, the SEC, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with concerns of corruption, foreign influence, and conflicts of interest by Trump.
Trump had launched the digital asset ahead of the inauguration for less than $10 per coin. The price of the coin reached $75 a few days later before eventually falling to $33.88. Melania Trump’s coin launched at $7, increased in value overnight to $12, and has since dropped to $4. Both own 80% of their coins.
“President Trump and his associated business entities that own 80 percent of $TRUMP could dump their coins over the course of a three-year period, generating huge sums for themselves while crashing the price of the coin for his supporters left holding the bag,” Warren and Auchincloss warned in their letter. “To make matters worse: the terms and conditions of both $TRUMP and $MELANIA purport to ban consumers from seeking relief for any fraud-related claims and prevent purchasers from joining class action lawsuits against the coin or its issuers.”
Trump had previously called crypto a “scam” during his first presidential run but changed his tune during the 2024 campaign trail when he became the first presidential candidate to accept digital assets as donations.
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Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with over six years of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news. Amanda received her degree in journalism and government and politics at St. John’s University. She is originally from Queens, New York, but now resides in Denver, Colorado with her partner. In her free time, Amanda enjoys running, cooking, and watching the latest drama show.