Biden Crypto Exec Order: U.S. Must Mitigate ‘National Security’ Risks of Digital Assets

President Biden issued a highly anticipated executive order on cryptocurrency earlier today. The order mentions “national security” twenty times, and stresses the importance of maintaining the dominance of the U.S. dollar.

The executive order directs a number of arms of the federal government, including the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Commerce, and the Attorney General to issue reports on the state of the cryptocurrency industry and their involvement in it within 180 days.

One of the state goals of the executive order is to ensure continued United States dominance in the global financial system.

Via the White House: 

The United States derives significant economic and national security benefits from the central role that the United States dollar and United States financial institutions and markets play in the global financial system. Continued United States leadership in the global financial system will sustain United States financial power and promote United States economic interests.

The executive order also notes the danger that cryptocurrencies can be used to evade international sanctions:

We must mitigate the illicit finance and national security risks posed by misuse of digital assets. Digital assets may pose significant illicit finance risks, including money laundering, cybercrime and ransomware, narcotics and human trafficking, and terrorism and proliferation financing. Digital assets may also be used as a tool to circumvent United States and foreign financial sanctions regimes and other tools and authorities.

The industry appears to have anticipated government concerns about sanctions evasion. Coinbase, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, recently announced it had blacklisted over 25,000 Russian addresses as part of its sanctions compliance.

In its announcement, Coinbase also argued that fiat currencies are more vulnerable than cryptocurrencies to be used for illicit activities and sanctions evasion, as fiat transactions are harder to track than blockchain transactions.

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.