Executive Order: Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology
The White House, January 23, 2025
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to promote United States leadership in digital assets and financial technology while protecting economic liberty, I hereby order the following:
Section 1. Purpose and Policies
(a) The digital asset industry is crucial for innovation and economic development in the United States, and international leadership. Therefore, the policy of my Administration is to support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain technology, and related technologies across all sectors of the economy. This includes:
(i) Protecting and promoting the ability of citizens and private-sector entities to freely use open public blockchain networks in lawful ways. This includes developing and deploying software, participating in mining and validating, transacting without unlawful censorship, and maintaining self-custody of digital assets.
(ii) Promoting and protecting the sovereignty of the United States dollar, including actions to develop and grow lawful and legitimate dollar-backed stablecoins worldwide.
(iii) Protecting and promoting fair and open access to banking services for all law-abiding individual citizens and private-sector entities.
(iv) Providing regulatory clarity and certainty through technology-neutral regulations, frameworks that consider emerging technologies, transparent decision-making, and well-defined jurisdictional regulatory boundaries. These are essential to supporting a vibrant and inclusive digital economy and innovation in digital assets, permissionless blockchains, and distributed ledger technologies.
(v) Taking measures to protect Americans from the risks of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), which threaten the stability of the financial system, individual privacy, and the sovereignty of the United States. This includes prohibiting the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use of a CBDC within the jurisdiction of the United States.
Sec. 2. Definitions
(a) For this order, the term “digital asset” refers to any digital representation of value recorded on a distributed ledger, including cryptocurrencies, digital tokens, and stablecoins.
(b) “Blockchain” means any technology where data is:
(i) Shared across a network to create a public ledger of verified transactions or information among network participants.
(ii) Linked using cryptography to maintain the integrity of the public ledger and to execute other functions.
(iii) Distributed among network participants to concurrently update the network participants on the state of the public ledger and any other functions.
(iv) Composed of publicly available source code.
(c) “Central Bank Digital Currency” means a form of digital money or monetary value, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the central bank.
Sec. 3. Revocation of Executive Order 14067 and Department of the Treasury Framework of July 7, 2022
(a) Executive Order 14067 of March 9, 2022 (Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets) is revoked.
(b) The Secretary of the Treasury is directed to immediately revoke the Treasury Department’s “Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets,” issued on July 7, 2022.
(c) All policies, directives, and guidance issued under Executive Order 14067 and the Treasury Department’s Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets are rescinded or will be rescinded by the Secretary of the Treasury, as appropriate, to the extent they conflict with this order.
(d) The Secretary of the Treasury shall take all appropriate measures to ensure compliance with this order’s policies.
Sec. 4. Establishment of the President‘s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets
(a) The President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets (Working Group) is established within the National Economic Council. The Special Advisor for AI and Crypto (Chair) will lead the Working Group.
Along with the Chair, the Working Group includes the following officials, or their designees:
(i) The Secretary of the Treasury; (ii) The Attorney General; (iii) The Secretary of Commerce; (iv) The Secretary of Homeland Security; (v) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget; (vi) The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; (vii) The Assistant to the President for National Economic Policy (APEP); (viii) The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology; (ix) The Homeland Security Advisor; (x) The Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; (xi) The Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. (xii) The Chair may invite heads of other executive departments and agencies, or senior officials within the Executive Office of the President, to Working Group meetings, based on relevant expertise and responsibilities, consistent with applicable law.
(b) Within 30 days of this order, the Treasury Department, the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other relevant agencies, the heads of which are in the Working Group, will identify all regulations, guidance documents, orders, or other items that affect the digital asset sector. Within 60 days of this order, each agency will submit to the Chair recommendations on whether each identified item should be rescinded, modified, or adopted in a regulation (for items other than regulations).
(c) Within 180 days of this order, the Working Group will submit a report to the President, through the APEP, recommending regulatory and legislative proposals to advance the policies in this order. The report will focus on:
(i) Proposing a Federal regulatory framework for the issuance and operation of digital assets, including stablecoins, in the United States, considering market structure, oversight, consumer protection, and risk management.
(ii) Evaluating the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile and proposing criteria for establishing such a stockpile, potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government.
(d) The Chair will designate an Executive Director of the Working Group, responsible for its day-to-day functions. On national security issues, the Working Group will consult with the National Security Council.
(e) The Working Group will hold public hearings and gather expertise from leaders in digital assets and digital markets, as appropriate and consistent with law.
Sec. 5. Prohibition of Central Bank Digital Currencies
(a) Agencies are prohibited from taking any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs within the jurisdiction of the United States or abroad, except to the extent required by law.
(b) Any ongoing plans or initiatives related to creating a CBDC in the United States will be immediately terminated, and no further actions taken to develop or implement such plans or initiatives, except to the extent required by law.
Sec. 6. Severability
(a) If any part of this order is held invalid, the rest of the order, applies to other persons or circumstances, will not be affected.
Sec. 7. General Provisions
(a) This order does not impair or otherwise affect:
(i) The authority given by law to an executive department, agency, or head thereof; or
(ii) The functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget regarding budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order will be implemented according to applicable law and the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by law or equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE, January 23, 2025.
