Joe Biden to clampdown on digital assets with tight regulation 

Joe Biden’s White House is reportedly planning a review of cryptocurrency and potential impacts on national security.

The US President could make an executive order regarding the US government’s stance on digital assets, with an announcement expected in the coming weeks, according to a report in Bloomberg.

It speculated that the scrutiny on digital assets including crypto, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and stablecoins could lead to stricter regulatory frameworks.

Such a move would make the US the latest major nation to address the emerging new digital wave of finance after China and Russia have in recent weeks sought to clamp down on Bitcoin and crypto-mining activities.

Meanwhile, a report earlier this week claimed that money laundering involving cryptocurrency increased by 30% in 2021. 

“The Chainalysis Money Laundering Crypto Crime report showed US$8.6bn worth of cryptocurrency was laundered in 2021, up 30% from the previous year,” businessinsider said.

Biden’s review, according to a report by Cointelegraph citing an unnamed source, is expected to look holistically at digital assets and “develop a set of policies that give coherency to what the government is trying to do in this space.”

Government surveillance along with national and international regulatory challenges are also expected to be examined.

The fact Biden’s administration has rejected several Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in recent months could be attributed to the belief that crypto is a national security threat, Eric Balchunas, senior ETF Bloomberg analyst, said.

Balchunas called the expected executive order a “broader crypto crackdown” in a Tweet.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Forbes said the government would issue reports on their findings by mid-2022 having considered “the systemic risks of cryptocurrencies and their illicit uses.”