The White House has released a legal framework for dealing with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the US following a “government-wide” executive order (EO) by President Joe Biden earlier this year, according to an official press release.
The EO “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets” called on government agencies to produce different forms of research on consumer privacy and protection, energy use, and the benefits and risks of digital currency. central bank (CBDC).
According to the research provided, the White House intends to empower the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to “aggressively pursue investigations” into the space of digital assets.
In addition, the Biden administration will push the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “redouble their efforts to monitor” the ecosystem for “unfair, deceptive practices or abusive”.
However, it is not clear what determines whether or not these agencies will begin to monitor the malicious behavior mentioned above.
Continuing, the framework also calls on agencies to begin accepting “instant payment systems,” such as FedNow, and to consider regulating non-bank payment providers.
In addition, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will research “technical and socio-technical disciplines and behavioral economics” to understand digital asset ecosystems.
Following a recent report by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been tasked with “following the environmental impacts of digital assets; develop performance standards as appropriate; and provide local authorities with the tools, resources and expertise to mitigate environmental damage.”
In addition, the Bank Secrecy Act will be amended to apply to digital assets, leading to higher fines for unlicensed money transfers and stricter enforcement against digital asset service providers.
In addition, the US Treasury Department will complete a risk assessment regarding Decentralized Finance (De-Fi).
Finally, the Biden administration has developed “Policies for a US CBDC System,” which details the government’s priorities for the release of a digital dollar. However, the statement states that “more research is needed.”
Agencies that were chosen to lead the ongoing task force for research and possible development of a CBDC include the Federal Reserve, the National Economic Council, the National Security Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of the Treasury.
