President Biden Issues Executive Order Framing His Administration's Approach To Regulating Digital Assets

On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, President Biden issued a long-awaited Executive Order, Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets, that outlined a whole-of-government approach to regulating digital assets.¹ The Order implements no new policies or regulations but instead sets out the administration's priorities for digital asset regulation and establishes a process through which the White House will gather reports on the digital asset ecosystem from over 20 executive agencies named in the Order.

The Order acknowledges the exponential growth of the digital asset market over the past five years and recognizes the government's interest in enabling "responsible financial innovation" while protecting against perceived risks. The administration's approach to digital asset regulation is aimed at six objectives: protecting consumers, investors and businesses; ensuring financial stability and mitigating systemic risk; combating illicit finance and national security