US Crypto Policy Tracker

On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans” (the Order). The Order, described further in an accompanying fact sheet, seeks to remedy what the administration views as significant harm to individuals and businesses stemming from certain alleged discriminatory practices by banking regulators and financial institutions. The Order states that these practices have limited access to banking services for certain persons not for “material, measurable, and justifiable risks,” but “on the basis of political or religious beliefs or lawful business activities.”

The Order establishes that it is federal government policy that no person “be denied access to financial services because of their constitutionally or statutorily protected beliefs, affiliations, or political views.” It also calls out allegedly “politicized or unlawful debanking” that adversely affects, either directly or indirectly, those with certain protected beliefs, affiliations, or political views.

The Order and fact sheet highlight firearms and digital assets as specific industries that have been the target of discriminatory practices.

One of the aims of the Order is to “protect[] and promote[] fair and open access to banking services for all law-abiding individual citizens and private-sector entities alike.” This is likely a reference to the difficulties that digital asset market participants reportedly faced when attempting to obtain access to banking services for digital asset-related products and services, commonly referred to in the industry as “Operation Choke Point 2.0.” According to the fact sheet, the administration “has already ended Operation Choke Point 2.0 once and for all by working to end regulatory efforts that deny banking services to the digital assets industry.”

Read more on Latham’s Global Fintech & Digital Assets Blog.

On July 30, 2025, the Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets (the Working Group or PWG)¹ issued a comprehensive report on digital assets, “Recommendations to Strengthen American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” (the Report). The Report (and accompanying fact sheet) was issued pursuant to President Trump’s January 23, 2025, executive order on digital assets, “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” (the Order) (for more information, see this Latham blog post). The Order tasked the Working Group to issue a report within 180 days, with the goal of developing a federal regulatory framework governing the issuance and operation of digital assets in the US.

The Report embodies the administration’s pro-crypto stance. The Working Group provides a broad overview of blockchain technology and the current regulatory framework for digital assets, as well as more than 100 short- and long-term regulatory and legislative recommendations. These recommendations are designed to guide and expedite legislation, rulemaking, and guidance for digital assets and financial market participants who provide (or intend to provide) digital asset products and services. Through their implementation, “policymakers can ensure that the [US] leads the blockchain revolution and ushers in the Golden Age of Crypto.” 

Many of the recommendations in the Report are encompassed by legislation that has already been enacted or is currently under consideration, such as the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act.

Irrespective of future congressional action, the Working Group recommends that the SEC and CFTC use their existing authorities to provide “fulsome regulatory clarity that best keeps blockchain-based innovation within the United States.”

The Working Group underscores the need to reinforce the role of the US dollar in the digital asset era, especially by promoting the adoption of dollar-backed stablecoins. However, the Working Group firmly opposes any initiatives to establish, issue, or promote a US central bank digital currency (CBDC), prioritizing privacy, civil liberties, and the prevention of government overreach. The Report therefore supports legislation under consideration in Congress that would expressly prohibit the adoption of a CBDC (e.g., the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives on July 17, 2025). 

On March 6, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order for the “Establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and United States Digital Asset Stockpile” (the Order). As a matter of national security, the US maintains several strategic reserves of important materials and scarce resources, including gold, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, and nuclear weapons. The Order establishes separate offices within the US Department of the Treasury to administer and maintain custody of Bitcoin and other digital assets forfeited as part of criminal or civil proceedings, or in satisfaction of penalties imposed by executive agencies. The Order also directs the Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce to develop strategies for acquiring additional digital assets, so long as such strategies are budget neutral and do not impose incremental costs on US taxpayers. The Order directs that within 30 days of the date of the Order, the head of each agency must provide the Secretary of the Treasury and the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets with a full accounting of all Bitcoin and other digital assets in the agency’s possession.

Read more on Latham's Global Fintech & Digital Assets Blog.

On January 23, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order (the Order) on digital assets titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology.” The Order asserts at the outset that the digital asset industry is critical for US innovation, economic development, and international leadership. It further undertakes “to support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain technology, and related technologies across all sectors of the economy. …”

The Order establishes the Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets within the National Economic Council. Within 30 days of the Order, the agencies constituting the Working Group must “identify all regulations, guidance documents, orders, or other items that affect the digital asset sector.” Within 60 days, each agency must submit to the Working Group chair a recommendation to either rescind or modify the regulations, guidance documents, orders, or other items identified in the initial sweep, or, for items other than regulations, to adopt them in a regulation.

Read more on Latham’s Global Fintech & Digital Assets Blog.