White House’s New Crypto Report Heralds Significant Financial Technology Innovation

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On Wednesday, the Working Group on Digital Asset Markets released its highly-anticipated report, establishing a historic blueprint to facilitate blockchain and crypto innovation. The 160-page report stems from President Trump's January 23, 2025 Executive Order 14178, Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology, and the Working Group consists of a broad swath of federal government officials—from the Treasury Secretary and the Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman to the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Secretary of Homeland Security. Policymakers must create an environment that ensures U.S. leadership in the global blockchain revolution, and the legislative and regulatory recommendations in the report would do just that.   

As I wrote in Forbes back in April, “[T]he perseverance of determined entrepreneurs, changes in U.S. political leadership, and a growing appreciation for the economic importance and broader application of these cost-saving technologies have changed perceptions and raised expectations that the United States will become ‘the crypto capital of the world.’” The Working Group similarly notes that "American entrepreneurs who pioneer new industries using these technologies deserve both clarity on the policies that affect their efforts and praise for the progress they have made.”

Among the many good recommendations in the report, three are especially important. 

The first is to position America as the undisputed leader in digital assets markets. How? The Working Group starts by providing the Commodities Futures Trading Commission authority to oversee spot markets for non-security digital assets. This would be a huge step forward, providing clarity to market participants on matters such as registration, custody, trading, and recordkeeping. Additionally, the report suggests shedding bureaucratic red tape by allowing consumers access to these financial products through tools like regulatory sandboxes and safe harbors.

Second, the Working Group tackles head-on illicit finance in the digital age. The report reinforces the importance of self-custody and clarifies the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations of actors within the decentralized finance ecosystem. Unfortunately, there will always be bad guys. But these obligations, coupled with self-custody, will be far more effective at deterring fraud than monitoring duffel bags full of $100 bills.

Third, the report recommends strengthening the role of the U.S. dollar through stablecoins by swiftly implementing the GENIUS Act at the federal and banking level. President Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law on July 18. The bill, passed with bipartisan support, creates the first-ever federal regulatory framework for stablecoins. This is an impressive achievement. The law focuses on so-called payment stablecoins, which are for payments and settlements backed by reserves, such as fiat currency and government securities.

After years of regulatory uncertainty, egregious lawsuits, and legislative morass, this report's recommendations offer great promise. The Golden Age of Crypto is now certainly on the horizon, and the Trump administration’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets is charting the course forward with veracity.

Commenting this week on the Working Group's report, House Committee on Financial Services Chairman French Hill said: “Now that the GENIUS Act is law and the CLARITY Act received overwhelming bipartisan support in the House, the Senate must expeditiously work to deliver such critical market structure legislation to President Trump’s desk.” 

I could not agree more.



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