Today, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) related to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, titled “Strengthening America's Leadership in Digital Financial Technology”. This EO officially banned the creation and issuance of central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States, defining CBDC as “a form of digital currency or monetary value, denominated in the national unit of account, and that is the direct responsibility of the central bank.”
“Except to the extent required by law, entities are prohibited from taking any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs within the jurisdiction of the United States or abroad,” the order said. name. “Except to the extent required by law, any ongoing plans or initiatives of any entity related to the creation of a CBDC within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be terminated immediately, and may not take any other actions to develop or implement these plans. initiatives.”
The new EO will also establish a presidential working group to create a federal regulatory framework that will manage digital assets (including stable), and to evaluate the creation of a strategic national digital asset stockpile.
“The Working Group's report will consider provisions for market structure, supervision, consumer protection and risk management,” the order said. “The Working Group will assess the creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile and will propose criteria for establishing such stocks, which could be derived from cryptocurrencies legally seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts.”
The EO defines the term “digital asset” as any digital representation of value recorded on a distributed ledger – which would include cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, digital tokens, and stablecoins.
It is expected that the stock will include or be completely in bitcoin. Last summer at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Donald Trump promised to create a national strategic bitcoin stockpile using bitcoins already owned by the government obtained from hacks and seizures. According to Arkham Intelligence datathe US currently holds 198,109 bitcoins worth more than $20.1 billion.
BREAKING: 🇺🇸 DONALD TRUMP promises never to be sold #BITCOIN AND THERE IS ONLY A STRATEGY FOR AN EVENT FOR AN EVENT pic.twitter.com/bbPRxlZfGZ
– Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) July 27, 2024
After Trump's speech at the conference, US Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced legislation to also create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, but in a different way. Her bill would see the US government buy 200,000 bitcoins every year, for 5 years, until it bought a total of 1,000,000 BTC. This legislation, however, had to go through the House of Representatives and the Senate before making its way to the president's desk for final approval.
So far, President Trump has kept his word on the Bitcoin-related promises he made on the campaign trail. Earlier this week, President Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon to Bitcoin pioneer and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, which Trump promised to fulfill in addition to creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve , banning CBDC, creating a working group/advisory council, and more.
Full details can be found on the executive order here.
