President Joe Biden is preparing to release a crypto executive order, declaring it a national security matter. The order is expected as early as February and the directive will ask federal agencies to determine the risks and opportunities posed by digital assets.

A crypto executive order will put the White House in a central role overseeing efforts to set policies and regulate digital assets, Bloomberg reported citing unnamed sources.

The order will also task parts of the government with analyzing digital assets and assembling a regulatory framework that covers cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, a person close to the situation told Barron’s.

Crypto has been in the sights of federal agencies for years. The Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) have already drafted guidance letters, informal statements, and public rule-making efforts to direct how the crypto industry should comply with U.S. federal law, CoinDesk reported.

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 74: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin returns for a new season of the GHOGH podcast to discuss Bitcoin, bubbles, and Biden. He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. Are broader financial markets in a massive speculative bubble?

There have been rumors swirling that the Biden administration has a “secret crypto strategy” that will force stablecoin issuers under the control of big banking, Decrypt reported.

“It’s a very thought-through doctrine about how to stop the crypto industry from growing too fast and too much,” said Maya Zehavi, a crypto entrepreneur and investor who has advised regulators. 

According to Zehavi and others, the Biden administration wants to bring crypto platforms that are “regulator-friendly” such as Circle and Paxos under the umbrella of the U.S. banking system.

Photo: President Joe Biden is pictured at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit, Nov. 2, 2021, in Glasgow, Scotland. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)