What you need to know
- U.S. President Joe Biden has issued an executive order designed to kickstart the process of forming proper cryptocurrency policy.
- Cryptocurrency has been involved in many everyday-consumer spaces as well as ransomware-related crimes, meaning policies will need to be crafted around the needs of average citizens as well as to combat cybercriminals.
- The executive order demands that various agencies and departments formulate studies on cryptocurrency's impacts, the findings of which will be due within the coming months.
The United States' entanglements with cryptocurrency run the gamut. From generic consumer involvement (did you know you can buy movie tickets with Bitcoin?) to pipeline-crippling ransoms, cryptocurrency is cropping up everywhere. And yet, it is largely unregulated and unsupervised. Based on U.S. President Joe Biden's new executive order, that's about to change.
The executive order is lengthy as can be and you can read the full thing over at the White House's website, but here's the core of it: The Biden administration is well aware of cryptocurrency's less savory aspects, such as its involvement in ransom schemes, sanction evasions, theft, and fraud. However, it acknowledges that there could be upsides to crypto, and that the government supports "responsible innovation that expands equitable access to financial services, particularly for those Americans underserved by the traditional banking system."
Having acknowledged the downsides and potential upsides of crypto, the executive order demands that various agencies and departments across the government produce studies to analyze cryptocurrency and have results within the coming months, though due dates vary on a per-study basis. The Biden administration is also placing a premium on researching a potential United States central bank digital currency (CBDC).
In other words, the U.S. is taking a vastly different approach to crypto than El Salvador, which is developing a city dedicated to Bitcoin. If you want to get in on the crypto action yourself, it's not too hard to learn how to mine crypto or learn what the best GPUs for mining are.
