Deadlines were met last Friday as several departments of the U.S. government delivered their reports on digital assets as required by President Joseph Biden’s Executive Order 14067 (EO) in March.
The goal of the EO is to ensure that the United States stays in front of innovation especially as it relates to the U.S. financial system. And, perhaps more importantly, the goal appears to be understanding a framework necessary for risks inherent in crypto markets and ensuring the ongoing global supremacy of the U.S. dollar and protection of the financial system.
The White House kicked things off with a “Fact Sheet” titled “White House Releases First-Ever Comprehensive Framework for Responsible Development of Digital Assets” (read it) in which it says nine reports have been “submitted” to-date – below are five that were released publicly on Friday.
U.S. Treasury Department (3 reports)
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen trumpeted the release of three reports from her department adding in a press release that if risks are mitigated, “digital assets and other emerging technologies could offer significant opportunities.”
The “Crypto-Assets: Implications for Consumers, Investors, and Businesses” (get the PDF) report from Treasury looks at “developments and adoption of digital assets and changes in financial market and payment system infrastructures for U.S. consumers, investors, businesses, and for equitable economic growth.”
As part of its recommendations, Treasury sees a need to “Provide Guidance through Individual Actions” and elaborates that the OCC, FDIC and SEC have all taken such actions recently including “the SEC’s special purpose broker-dealer statement on digital asset custody that identifies the circumstances in which the SEC will not take certain enforcement action against broker-dealers with respect to digital asset securities.”
Of all the reports released, “The Future of Money and Payments,” provides the broadest and most hopeful overview and loops in the CBDC debate from a U.S. Treasury perspective. (get the PDF).