President Donald Trump plans to sign another cryptocurrency-related executive order, possibly as soon as this week, that takes aim at anti-crypto policies of the Joe Biden administration that made it difficult for company companies to obtain banking services, sources familiar with the matter told Decrypt.
The order will likely seek to explicitly roll back the rules and regulatory initiatives associated with “Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” an alleged Biden administration plot to deny banking services to crypto companies and executives, sources said.
When asked, the White House’s Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets Executive Director Bo Hines confirmed the executive order is in the works but would not elaborate. “I think that the industry can expect something in short order there,” Hines told Decrypt.
Hines also reiterated that the Trump administration is committed to ending all practices associated with Operation Chokepoint 2.0—a phrase coined by Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter, borrowing from the Barack Obama-era Operation Choke Point that targeted payday lenders and firearm dealers.
Though details of Trump’s executive order have not yet been finalized, one source told Decrypt it will likely have an impact on Federal Reserve policies regarding master accounts.
All federally chartered banks possess master accounts, which allow for direct payments with and access to the Fed. Such accounts are crucial for a bank to meaningfully serve customers nationwide. During the Biden administration, the Fed persistently refused to grant master accounts to crypto-focused banks like Custodia, stymying their growth.
Changing this policy and allowing crypto banks to access the Fed’s services would constitute a massive development for the digital assets industry.
Typically, however, Federal Reserve policies are not dictated by the White House. The central bank is considered independent and its decisions “do not require approval by the president or anyone else in the executive or legislative branches of government,” according to the Fed’s own written policy.
The Trump administration has been working at breakneck speed to accomplish policy goals outside of the crypto arena that have already been met with legal challenges in federal courts. One source told Decrypt that senior White House officials are planning to meet Thursday to evaluate potential legal hurdles regarding the latest crypto order before putting it on President Trump’s desk for a signature.
The order could also go beyond banking. Another source told Decrypt it will likely include numerous directives, including one stating that stablecoins, crypto assets designed to keep a steady price and generally pegged to the U.S. dollar, should not be considered securities.
If Trump does in fact sign such an executive order in the coming days, it would mark the third order dedicated to crypto that he has signed since returning to office.
The first, signed on January 23, established a Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets featuring numerous high-profile cabinet members. The second, signed last week, ordered the creation of a U.S. government strategic Bitcoin reserve and a separate digital asset stockpile for crypto assets other than Bitcoin.
Decrypt previously reported that Trump’s initial crypto executive order was likely to be the first of many.
