A version of this article was published in TIME’s newsletter Into the Metaverse. Subscribe for a weekly guide to the future of the Internet. You can find past issues of the newsletter here.
It’s been a momentous couple weeks in crypto. In the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, millions of dollars in cryptocurrency donations have streamed toward the Ukrainian government and relief efforts, providing a lifeline for those unable to access traditional banks. On the flip side, regulators have worried that crypto provides a way for Russian oligarchs to circumvent sanctions (although no concrete evidence has surfaced that this is the case). Earlier this week, rumors spread that President Joe Biden was about to issue an executive order cracking down on crypto, especially with regards to its role in this geopolitical conflict.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]
But many crypto insiders were pleasantly surprised when the Administration released its executive order on Wednesday, marking the first time the White House has weighed in formally on cryptocurrencies. The order recognized the popularity of cryptocurrencies and directed the U.S. Department of the Treasury and other federal agencies to coordinate their efforts to come up with a regulatory plan. “I am pretty darn optimistic about it,” says Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit who is now a major investor in crypto technology. “I’m grateful we’re at the point where the utility of this tech has proven to be very obvious to all levels of our government.”
The order tasks a variety of agencies with studying and planning around cryptocurrency policy in key areas like consumer protection, national security, and illicit finance. It also urges the Federal Reserve to continue exploring the development of a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)—a digital U.S. dollar that would be widely available to the general public, and could make digital transactions more secure, faster and cheaper. TIME spoke to several…
Source : time
