Today, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) related to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, titled “Strengthening US Leadership in Digital Financial Technology.” This EO officially banned the creation and issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States, defining a CBDC as “a form of digital money or monetary value, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability.” of the central bank.”
“Except to the extent required by law, agencies are hereby prohibited from taking any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs within the jurisdiction of the United States or abroad,” the order says. announced. “Except to the extent required by law, any ongoing plans or initiatives in any agency related to the creation of a CBDC within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be terminated immediately and no further actions may be taken to develop or implement such plans.” or initiatives.”
The new EO will also establish a presidential task force to create a federal regulatory framework governing digital assets (including stablecoins) and evaluate the creation of a strategic national reserve of digital assets.
“The Task Force report will consider provisions for market structure, supervision, consumer protection and risk management,” the order said. “The Task Force will evaluate the potential creation and maintenance of a national reserve of digital assets and propose criteria for establishing such a reserve, potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts.”
The EO defines the term “digital asset” as any digital representation of value that is recorded on a distributed ledger, which would include cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, digital tokens, and stablecoins.
The reserve is expected to include or be entirely in bitcoin. Last summer, at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville, Donald Trump pledged to create a national strategic bitcoin reserve using bitcoins already held by the government obtained from hacks and seizures. According to Arkham Intelligence dataThe United States currently holds 198,109 bitcoins worth more than $20.1 billion.
BREAKING NEWS: 🇺🇸 DONALD TRUMP COMMITS TO NEVER SELL #BITCOIN AND KEEP IT AS A STRATEGIC RESERVE ASSET IF YOU ARE ELECTED PRESIDENT pic.twitter.com/bbPRxlZfGZ
– Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) July 27, 2024
Following Trump’s speech at the conference, US Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced legislation to also create a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, but in a different way. Their bill would have the US government purchase 200,000 bitcoins per year, for 5 years, until it has purchased a total of 1,000,000 BTC. This legislation, however, would have to pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate before reaching the president’s desk for final approval.
So far, President Trump has kept his word on the Bitcoin-related promises he made during the election campaign. Earlier this week, President Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon to Bitcoin pioneer and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, which Trump pledged to honor in addition to creating a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, banning CBDCs, creating a group of work/advisory board, and more.
Full details of the executive order can be found here.
