Executive Order 14178 on digital financial technology

On 23 January 2025 President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order 14178, “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology.”¹ Section 3 revokes Executive Order 14067 of 9 March 2022 (“Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets”) and the Department of the Treasury’s 7 July 2022 “Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets.”¹² Section 4 establishes the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, chaired by the Special Advisor for AI and Crypto (David Sacks), with members including the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, the Homeland Security Advisor, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.¹ Section 5(a) provides that “[e]xcept to the extent required by law, agencies are hereby prohibited from undertaking any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs within the jurisdiction of the United States or abroad,” and § 5(b) directs immediate termination of “any ongoing plans or initiatives at any agency related to the creation of a CBDC.”¹ The same day, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued Staff Accounting Bulletin 122, rescinding SAB 121 (the crypto-custody balance-sheet guidance).³

1. Section 4(b) directs each agency head to identify regulations and guidance affecting digital-asset activity within 30 days; § 4(c) directs the submission of recommendations on rescission or modification within 60 days; and § 4(d) directs the Working Group to submit a report with regulatory and legislative proposals — including a federal regulatory framework for digital assets and stablecoins — within 180 days.¹

2. Section 4(d) also directs the Working Group to “evaluate the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile and propose criteria for establishing such a stockpile, potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts.”¹

3. The CBDC prohibition reaches federal agencies under § 5: the Federal Reserve and other agencies may not research, pilot, issue or promote a retail or wholesale central bank digital currency within US jurisdiction or abroad while the order remains in force.¹ Federal Reserve note issuance under 12 U.S.C. § 411 and commercial bank money are not addressed by the order.⁴