White House set to unveil closely watched crypto policy report
(Reuters) -A cryptocurrency working group formed by President Donald Trump is set to release a report on Wednesday that is expected to outline the administration's stances on tokenization and market-defining crypto legislation, among other issues critically important to the digital asset industry.
Shortly after taking office in January, Trump ordered the creation of a crypto working group tasked with proposing new regulations, making good on his campaign promise to overhaul U.S. crypto policy.
Wednesday's report is a culmination of the task force's work so far and its first public findings. In line with Trump's January executive order, it will lay out what rules and laws should be enacted to advance the policy goals of the pro-crypto White House.
Those include making sure that the Securities and Exchange Commission has a framework in place for firms to offer blockchain-based stocks and bonds, according to one person familiar with the discussions. The report is also expected to discuss the administration's wish list for legislation Congress is currently debating to create broad regulatory guidelines for cryptocurrency, according to a second person familiar with the report.
The working group led by Trump official Bo Hines is composed of several administration officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, SEC Chair Paul Atkins and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought.
The White House, Treasury Department and the SEC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.
"While there have been regulatory regimes in place that have maybe been piecemeal or have allowed the industry to grow in certain ways, the recommendations that we expect to see in the report will be a good roadmap for how to build out crypto as a continued important part of the economy going forward," said Rebecca Rettig, chief legal officer at crypto firm Jito Labs.
On the campaign trail, Trump courted crypto cash by pledging to be a "crypto president" and promote the adoption of digital assets. That is in stark contrast to former President Joe Biden's regulators which, in a bid to protect Americans from fraud and money laundering, cracked down on the industry. The Biden administration sued exchanges Coinbase, Binance and dozens more, alleging they were flouting U.S. laws. Trump's SEC has since dropped those cases.
TOKENIZATION, STABLECOINS, MARKET STRUCTURE
Industry participants will be looking closely at what the report says about tokenization, the process of turning financial assets - such as bank deposits, stocks, bonds, funds and even real estate - into crypto assets.
Crypto firms and others have been increasingly discussing the prospect of tokenizing securities as a new way to facilitate trading. Coinbase recently told Reuters it was seeking a U.S. green light from the SEC to offer blockchain-based stocks. The SEC has yet to weigh in publicly on that request.
Wednesday's report is expected to recognize the need for the SEC to develop a framework for tokenization, according to a source familiar with the discussions, but the details of the language were not immediately clear.
The report will also lay out what the White House would like to see from market structure legislation working its way through Congress, according to a separate person with knowledge of the report. The House of Representatives passed a bill called the Clarity Act earlier this month that would create a formal regulatory regime for crypto, and the U.S. Senate is considering its own version of the measure.
Earlier this month, Trump signed into law a bill to create federal rules for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar. That move was hailed as a major win for the digital asset industry, and the White House has said it wants Congress to pass market structure legislation next, which would have far wider repercussions for the industry.
The crypto sector has for years argued that existing U.S. regulations are inappropriate for cryptocurrencies and has called for Congress and regulators to write new ones that clarify when a crypto token is a security, commodity or falls into another category, like stablecoins.
The president's support for the crypto industry has sparked conflict-of-interest concerns, which at times have threatened to derail congressional crypto legislation. Trump's family has launched cryptocurrency meme coins, and the president also holds a stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform. The White House has denied that any conflicts of interest are present.
(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York; Editing by Pete Schroeder and Matthew Lewis)
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