President Trump on Thursday issued an executive order to support the growth of the cryptocurrency industry, calling for a new plan to regulate a business in which he has substantial personal investments.
The executive order, which was light on details, said the Trump administration would create a working group on digital assets to come up with a comprehensive plan that would include “regulatory and legislative proposals.” The group would also consider establishing a national cryptocurrency stockpile, a government-controlled stash of digital coins that the industry has spent months lobbying the new administration to create.
“The digital asset industry plays a crucial role in innovation and economic development in the United States, as well as our nation’s international leadership,” the order said. “It is therefore the policy of my administration to support the responsible growth and use of digital assets.”
Mr. Trump has a significant personal stake in the success of the crypto industry. He and his sons last year helped start a crypto company called World Liberty Financial, which is selling a new digital currency called WLFI. This month, he and his wife, Melania, each began selling memecoins, a type of cryptocurrency inspired by an online joke or celebrity mascot.
The ventures have drawn criticism from ethics experts concerned about conflicts of interest. In effect, Mr. Trump is trying to write the rules for business ventures from which he may personally profit. He has vowed to end the Biden administration’s legal crackdown on crypto companies and made a series of personnel selections at key federal agencies that appear poised to boost the crypto industry’s prospects.
In the executive order, Mr. Trump said his administration was committed to “protecting and promoting” the crypto industry. He promised “fair and open access to banking services,” a response to complaints by crypto companies that banks have denied them accounts.
Still, the order did not go nearly as far as many in the crypto industry had hoped. Mr. Trump did not order federal agencies to drop lawsuits against crypto companies, nor direct the government to start buying Bitcoin.
Among the more substantive elements of the order is a prohibition on the creation of a “central bank digital currency,” a type of cryptocurrency that is overseen by the government. Many crypto enthusiasts oppose the creation of such currencies on ideological grounds, and Mr. Trump vowed on the campaign trail to outlaw them.
But in an analysis of the order Molly White, a crypto researcher, noted that no federal agency has ever seriously pursued creating such a cryptocurrency. Ms. White called Mr. Trump’s order “mostly symbolic.”
A one-time skeptic who dismissed Bitcoin as a scam, Mr. Trump became an outspoken enthusiast for digital currencies on the campaign trail, as the crypto industry poured more than $130 million into high-profile congressional races. At a Bitcoin conference in…
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