In one of many executive orders issued by President Trump during his first few days in office, the president has affirmed his campaign promises regarding digital assets and blockchain technology with his order "Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology."
Issued on January 23, 2025, Trump's order identifies digital assets as playing a "crucial role in innovation and economic development in the United States," and the country's "international leadership." It sets forth the policy of the administration as supporting, protecting, and promoting digital asset technologies and the advancement and growth of blockchain technologies, focusing on technologies to promote US dollar sovereignty, permitting participation in mining and validating, providing regulatory clarity and certainty, and ensuring access and use of blockchain networks "without persecution." Importantly, it expressly revokes Biden's Executive Order 14067, and the Department of the Treasury's "Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets," issued on July 7, 2022, which reflected policies that threatened, challenged, and undermined digital assets and related technology.
Notably, this executive order focuses on and prohibits Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Setting forth a policy to protect Americans from the risks of CBDCs that "threaten the stability of the financial system, individual privacy, and the sovereignty of the United States," it prohibits any agencies from undertaking any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs within the US or abroad, immediately terminating any ongoing plans or agency initiatives to develop CBDCs.
Among other things, the order establishes the President's Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, requiring the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other relevant agencies participating in the Working Group to submit recommendations on whether existing regulations be rescinded or modified and, subsequently, submit to the president within 180 days regulatory and legislative proposals that advance blockchain technology and the further adoption and growth of digital assets. It also orders the evaluation of a potential national digital asset reserve, as touted on the campaign trail.
While lacking in significant detail, this executive order promises to be the first of many actions we expect from the administration to further promote the development and use of digital assets and create regulatory frameworks that work for and provide real guidance to the industry. As anticipated, the administration is positioning government as a partner to and protector of the industry and blockchain technologies, and more positive measures are expected soon.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
