The President of the United States, Joe Biden, is preparing an executive decree to evaluate the creation of an American cryptocurrency, The Wall Street Journal reported today.
Biden's initiative aims to study the technical requirements needed to create an official US digital currency, which, like the dollar, would be backed by the Federal Reserve. Biden is also expected to ask the Treasury Department to examine the potential risks posed by cryptocurrencies to financial stability or national security, including through illicit financing, the paper said.
The order, which is expected to be formally announced this week, according to the newspaper, will require US agencies to prepare recommendations on the cryptocurrency market within three to six months. Since the launch of the most widely used cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, 13 years ago, the US government has been unclear about how to regulate its use and has so far failed to pass comprehensive regulations.
However, the United States has criticized El Salvador for adopting “bitcoin” as legal tender: last week, the State Department warned in a report that this complicates the country’s fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Furthermore, in February, three US senators presented a legislative initiative outlining a plan to “mitigate” the risks to the US financial system posed by the use of “bitcoin” in El Salvador.
