Crypto Market Sheds $100 Billion — Bitcoin, Ether, Cardano, Solana Hit Ahead Of Biden’s Executive Order

Moving into the weekend, cryptocurrencies continue to exhibit frailty after Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, slipped on Thursday following a report by Yahoo! Finance that President Biden could issue an executive order that seeks to tighten the existing oversight on crypto.

According to the report, the POTUS could “issue an executive order next week directing agencies across the government to study cryptocurrencies and a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and come up with a government-wide strategy to regulate digital assets”- Yahoo’s Jeniffer Schonberger reported.

The executive order will direct a study by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) around the ongoing debate about CBDCs. The Director of The Office Of Science and Tech Policy is also required to provide feedback on the best approach to a CBDC system. In addition, various state agencies including the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, State, and Treasury will be required to provide a full status report on the future of money and payment systems. There were however no set deadlines for the said reports.

This development comes in the wake of an ongoing heated debate about crypto with President Biden and various legislators calling for more stringent crypto laws. However, a Wednesday report by Bloomberg that the Whitehouse says “is inaccurate” puts treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at the center of a dispute involving treasury’s staff and the Whitehouse over delays occasioned on the said executive order (which was supposed to be signed last month). Experts believe that this, and the fact that the U.S. is more focused on the Ukraine Dispute could push further the said executive order.

“Lot of chatter today about a crypto Executive Order. DC folks tell me it won’t drop anytime soon—probably early March.”  Jeff Roberts, a lawyer and executive editor for Decrypt was quoted saying. “Also “Executive Order” sounds dramatic but Biden can’t really do much other than tell agencies to develop policy Real action will remain w/Treasury, OCC, Fed”

On Thursday, the FBI commissioned a new crypto department while the DOJ secured a top computer crimes prosecutor to deal with growing cases of crypto-related crimes, which is increasingly seen as a step in the right direction despite the U.S. lacking all-around crypto legislation.

That said, traders continue to brace tightly through an increasingly unpredictable regulatory environment with crypto-assets taking the biggest hit. Following Yahoo’s report, almost $300M liquidations were reported in the last 36 hours according to Coinglass.

At press time, Bitcoin is trading at $40,400 after losing the entire week’s gains while Ethereum has fallen back below $3,000 and is trading at $2,793. Cardano, Solana, and Avalanche are currently down 3.37%, 5.58%, and 4.14% respectively.