- The Biden administration is no fan of cryptocurrencies, and worse could be to come
- The Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration could hit stablecoin issuers with bank-like regulations
- The administration is also convening a 30-member global cyber security council which will further crack down on crypto freedoms
If it isn’t clear by now, the Biden administration is no fan of cryptocurrencies. This is hardly surprising given that a series of multi-million-dollar ransomware attacks have taken place on Biden’s watch, and the president has had no reason to be positive about them. His government is trying to push through the cryptocurrency element of the Infrastructure Bill which shows a complete lack of understanding of the cryptocurrency space, and more comments in the last few days have cemented the Biden administration as the administration that is taking the most serious steps towards reigning in the Wild West of crypto.
Biden Administration to Target Stablecoins
The latest comment on cryptocurrencies from the Biden administration came via the Wall Street Journal on Friday, with stablecoins being the target. The Journal said that the administration was planning to regulate stablecoins issuers such as Tether and Circle as banks, subjecting to them to crippling legislation and licensing restrictions that would likely leave some unable to comply.
Citing “people familiar with the matter”, the Journal said that the measures were being considered because the Biden administration is worried that stablecoins “could fuel financial panics [if] users come to doubt the value of their underlying assets that keep their prices stable.” The irony here, of course, is that everyone knows that the biggest stablecoin issuer, Tether, backs the vast majority of its $51 billion market cap with loans and fiduciary deposits, and many in the space have very little faith that it can actually back what it says it can.
30-country Cyber Taskforce Could Curb Crypto Freedoms
Biden himself spoke on the topic of cryptocurrencies on Friday, announcing a coalition of 30 countries that would come together to “accelerate our cooperation in combating cybercrime, improving law enforcement collaboration, stemming the illicit use of cryptocurrency, and engaging on these issues diplomatically.”
What format “stemming the illicit use of cryptocurrency” will entail is yet to be known, but if the Infrastructure Bill is anything to go by then the Biden administration will happily trample on the rights of legitimate users to get to the illegal ones.
