US President Joe Biden is all set to sign his long-awaited executive order on cryptocurrencies, and market reactions have been flowing in while the price of Bitcoin ticks up.

After US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen prematurely published a positive response to Biden’s order earlier today, the president is currently searching for his special presidential pen (probably) to scribble his autograph on the official document.

The order reportedly directs the US Justice Department, Treasury and other departments to study the legal and economic implications of creating a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and implementing oversight of the crypto market.

 

Biden’s executive order is a ‘landmark moment’

According to Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, which is one of the world’s largest independent financial advisories and asset managers, the Biden order highlights the value of Bitcoin and digital assets.

“For me, there are three key takeaways from Biden’s crypto executive order,” said Green. “First, digital currencies are an inevitability in the ever more digital world that we live in. When tech is driving the way we live, work, do business and much more besides, it makes sense to have money that runs on tech, too.”

The CEO’s other bullish takeaways included the fact that any thought of the US “banning” crypto can now be dispelled, and that the US government’s push for a CBDC just underscores the world’s desire for cryptocurrencies.

However, reflecting the vast majority of the crypto industry’s views on CBDCs, Green added that while it could present advantages for the US, it falls down in the privacy stakes.

“Indeed, a digital dollar would serve to give US authorities even greater oversight of citizens’ transactions,” he said, adding that Bitcoin and other cryptos have the upper hand because they are a “decentralised, tamper-proof unconfiscatable monetary system”.

“History will judge Biden signing this executive order as a landmark moment,” Green concluded.

 

‘Responsible innovation’: what’s in the Biden crypto order?

Earlier today, the US Treasury described the US president’s executive crypto order as supporting “responsible innovation that could result in substantial benefits for the nation, consumers, and businesses”.

The government order will now direct federal agencies to conduct a broad-ranging audit on potential risks and benefits of the crypto industry, focusing on the following key priorities:

 • consumer/investor protection

• financial stability 

• illicit finance

• US competitiveness

• equity inclusion

• privacy, security and climate.

The Treasury itself is tasked with developing policy recommendations for the US crypto industry, as well as issuing a report on the future of money and payments systems.

Regulators such as the influential Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) meanwhile are being encouraged to provide “sufficient” oversight and protect against systemic risk. Let’s hope “sufficient” means “innovation friendly”.

 

Further reactions to the exec order

Joe Kernan, host of CNBC’s financial news program Squawk Box, meanwhile seemed a little underwhelmed about the details of Biden’s order, describing them as “not very specific”.

FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried seemed encouraged, although nothing really changes in the language from SEC chief Gary Gensler. At least he didn’t use the words “wild” and “west” here, though…

In terms of price reaction, the entire crypto market is up 6.5% on the Yellen/Biden news combo. Bitcoin (BTC) is currently up 9% in the past 24 hours, while other significant top 10 crypto movers include Ethereum (ETH) +7%; Avalanche (AVAX) +10% and Terra (LUNA), surging with a +21% daily gain at the time of writing.

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows on Crypto Twitter right now, though, and it can’t be forgotten there’s a pretty serious war going on in Eastern Europe, upwards spiralling inflation, as well as upcoming US Fed rate hikes and the spectre of a global recession potentially looming.

Not to rain on the parade too much, but as positive as this stance from the White House so far seems to be, there are a lot of potential headwinds for the crypto market, and all markets, still gusting about.

So just for good measure then, here’s some still-bearish sentiment from a couple of popular Crypto Twitter trading-focused accounts…