Donald Trump is forming a cryptocurrency task force to reform digital asset regulations in the US, including banking

US President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the creation of a cryptocurrency working group tasked with proposing new regulations for digital assets and exploring the creation of a national cryptocurrency stockpile, fulfilling his promise to quickly reform US cryptocurrency policy.

The long-awaited measure also ordered protections for cryptocurrency companies’ banking services, a reference to industry claims that US regulators have directed lenders to cut off banking services for cryptocurrency companies – something regulators deny. The order also prohibits the creation of central bank digital currencies in the United States that could compete with existing cryptocurrencies.

During the election campaign, Trump sought to appeal to cryptocurrencies by pledging to be a “crypto president” and encouraging the adoption of digital assets. This is in stark contrast to former President Joe Biden’s regulatory bodies, which, in an attempt to protect Americans from fraud and money laundering, cracked down on the industry, suing exchanges Coinbase, Binance and dozens of others, claiming they were violating US laws. The companies deny these accusations.

Thursday’s order was welcomed by the cryptocurrency industry, which has been pressing the new administration to send a strong signal of support in Trump’s first few days in office.

“Today’s cryptocurrency executive order represents a radical change in US digital asset policy,” said Nathan McCauley, CEO and co-founder of cryptocurrency firm Anchorage Digital.

“By taking a whole-of-government approach to cryptocurrencies, the administration is taking an important first step toward writing clear, consistent rules of the road.”

Regulatory and cryptocurrency experts said that if implemented by relevant regulators, Trump’s order has the potential to push cryptocurrencies into the mainstream. This comes after the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Tuesday that it had established a task force to reform cryptocurrency policy.

Bitcoin reached a new record high of $109,071 on Monday amid investor excitement over the new cryptocurrency-friendly administration, though it had fallen to around $103,000 as of late Thursday afternoon.

“Just days into his administration, President Trump is making good on his promises…to keep the United States a leader in digital asset innovation,” Senator Tim Scott, Republican chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement.

The industry has argued for years that current US regulations are unsuitable for cryptocurrencies, and has called on Congress and regulators to write new regulations clarifying when a cryptocurrency token is a security, a commodity, or falls into another category.

According to the order, the working group, which will include the Secretary of the Treasury and the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, along with the heads of other agencies, is charged with developing a regulatory framework for digital assets. This includes stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically tied to the US dollar.

The group is also set to “evaluate the potential creation and maintenance of a national stockpile of digital assets… potentially derived from cryptocurrencies that have been lawfully seized by the federal government through law enforcement efforts.”

The order did not provide further details on how such a stockpile would be created, and analysts and legal experts are divided on whether a congressional resolution would be necessary. Some have argued that the reserve could be created through the US Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund, which could be used to buy or sell foreign currencies, as well as to hold bitcoin.

In December, Trump appointed David Sachs, a venture capitalist and former PayPal CEO, as his director of cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence. The order stated that he would chair the group.