WHY IS THE US DOING IT ALL?

First, let me set out again the fact that The Centre for Digital Assets and Democracy (CDAD) is non-partisan. So the reason for highlighting the actions of the new Trump administration are not because of any political party allegiance.

Rather, we are broadcasting the Trump administration’s actions on crypto because we support and promote democracy in the context of digital assets.

In his first few days, Trump has begun the process of considering the interplay between the state and the citizen in the digital asset arena.

On 23 January 2025, the White House issued an executive order titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” (https://lnkd.in/eXDAFwNE).

We applaud section 5 which prohibits any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs within the jurisdiction of the United States or abroad. If you want to know why, just read more of the articles on our website and keep an eye out for my podcast with Nick Anthony of the Human Rights Foundation’s CBDC Tracker. Recorded on 23 January, it’s already almost out of date in parts thanks to the White House’s speed of action.

Secondly, a letter from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (https://lnkd.in/etDr9g-T) sets out how the US government is investigating the improper debanking of individuals and entities based on political viewpoints or involvement in certain industries such as cryptocurrency and blockchain.

The US government is pulling no punches, as you can see from the extracts below. It is going looking for answers and it’s looking at state bodies, armed with fact-based accounts from the industry:

“These examples are startling, and the Committee is investigating whether this debanking practice originates from the financial institutions themselves or from either implicit or explicit pressure from government regulators.”

“… to better inform the Committee’s investigation, the Committee seeks to understand the financial institutions and regulators involved, the reasons tech founders were given as to why they were debanked, and how this overreach affected business operations.”

This governmental action comes in the same week that three UK organisations (The UK Crypto Business Council, The Start-Up Coalition and Global Digital Finance) published “Don’t bank on it”, a report on the almost impossible task of opening a bank account if you are a crypto business.
(https://lnkd.in/emHgM3bQ)

The UK government needs to wake up. If it means what is says about being a global leader in cryptoassets, it needs to start talking to and working with the US government.

Make democracy great again.