What does Biden’s executive order on crypto actually mean? We gave it a close read.

The White House has gone crypto. US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a long-awaited executive order asking the federal government to examine the risks and benefits of digital assets. That could pave the way for a coherent federal policy and positioning the United States as a leader in financial innovation. What signals does this order send about the Biden administration’s approach to cryptocurrency and a potential central bank digital currency? Atlantic Council experts from our GeoEconomics Center dove into the document and left their insights in the margins.

Below is the executive order, displayed with annotations from our experts. Click on the underlined text to view their thoughts and takeaways.

Introducing your annotators for this edition of MARKUP:

Related Experts: Josh Lipsky, JP Schnapper-Casteras, and Ananya Kumar

Image: US President Joe Biden and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo (not pictured) hold a virtual meeting with business leaders and state governors to discuss supply chain problems, particularly addressing semiconductor chips, on the White House campus in Washington on March 9, 2022. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)