Usually, when governments announce new policies on cryptocurrencies, it sends the crypto markets crashing, with investors fearing regulatory crackdown—or at least more oversight.
But today, Bitcoin and other cryptos are up thanks, in part, to an executive order from President Biden.
This morning, the White House announced that President Biden will sign an executive order mandating a number of changes in the U.S. government surrounding how it examines and treats cryptocurrencies. Much of the order relates to how the U.S. can maintain global competitiveness in the crypto sphere, as well as ensuring that digital currency investment is safe for consumers and doesn’t help fund terrorism and other security risks.
But there was also something else in the executive order: Biden directed the federal government “to take concrete steps to study and support technological advances in the responsible development, design, and implementation of digital asset systems while prioritizing privacy, security, combating illicit exploitation, and reducing negative climate impacts.”
It’s that first part that was music to crypto investors’ ears, because it suggests that America is taking the opposite approach of another economic superpower, China, which has reacted to crypto by essentially banning crypto transactions, although it has also developed its own digital currency.
In other words, cryptocurrencies and their development have, if not a friend, at least a powerful government partner willing to explore the technology and let it grow—within boundaries, anyway.
Of course, it wasn’t all good news from the White House for crypto investors. Biden’s executive order also instructed the U.S. government to research and develop a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC)–essentially a digital version of the U.S. dollar. Such fiat digital currencies could create serious competition for old-school cryptocurrencies in the future.
Still, as of the time of this writing, crypto heavyweight Bitcoin is up over 8% on the news.
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