As a matter of national security, the White House wants crypto rules.
According to various sources, the White House intends to establish a unified set of laws to govern Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, as present legislation and enforcement are dispersed among industries and agencies.
Bloomberg originally reported that the Biden administration will issue an executive order in the next weeks tasked government departments with examining the risks and opportunities that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies represent.
According to Barron’s, the directive will be issued as part of the administration’s national security efforts to examine cryptocurrencies and implement a unified regulatory framework that will include Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and NFTs.
“This is designed to look holistically at digital assets and develop a set of policies that give coherency to what the government is trying to do in this space,” a person familiar with the White House’s plan told Barron’s. “Because digital assets don’t stay in one country, it’s necessary to work with other countries on synchronization.”
According to the Barron’s report, the State Department, Treasury Department, National Economic Council, and Council of Economic Advisers, as well as the White House National Security Council, would be involved in the regulatory efforts because the administration believes cryptocurrencies have “economic implications for national security.”
According to the individual, the White House’s objective is to “bring structure to the government’s current haphazard approach to crypto regulation.” Different agencies are currently in charge of different aspects of the cryptocurrency market, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but there is little coordination and consensus when it comes to the classification of the market’s many different assets.
Senior administration officials attended many discussions on the idea, according to Bloomberg, and the instruction is anticipated to be delivered to President Joe Biden in the coming weeks.
