The Biden administration is expected to issue an order that would make government agencies begin conducting risk analysis on cryptocurrency as a national security threat.

Joe Biden’s White House is expected to issue an executive order in the coming weeks about actions the United States government will take regarding digital assets.

A source “familiar with the White House’s plan” told Barron’s that the executive order would be issued in a national security memorandum. Biden’s memorandum would assign some government entities to study crypto, stablecoins and nonfungible tokens with the goal of developing a workable regulatory framework.

The source was quoted as saying:

“This is designed to look holistically at digital assets and develop a set of policies that give coherency to what the government is trying to do in this space.”

Rumors of a potential executive order on crypto have been swirling in recent days. Earlier this week, Forbes reported those government entities would likely issue reports on their findings by mid-2022 after having looked at “the systemic risks of cryptocurrencies and their illicit uses.”

The rationale for the executive order falling under national security is that crypto is a cross-border tool for shifting money. The ability of decentralized blockchain technology to circumvent geo-specific surveillance or rules means the administration may push for synchronized international regulations with other countries.

Eric Balchunas, senior exchange-traded fund (ETF) analyst at Bloomberg, noted earlier on Friday that the Biden administration viewing crypto as a national security threat may also be behind the constant rejections of Bitcoin (BTC) spot ETFs.

He also referred to the new developments as a “broader crypto crackdown” in a Friday tweet.

Broader crackdown

Another piece of legislation worrying the crypto industry was proposed by House Democrats on Tuesday, the America COMPETES Act. Jerry Brito, executive director for Washington D.C.-based think tank Coin Center, noted that one provision in the proposed bill would allow the Treasury Secretary to ban crypto exchanges from operating without any prior notice.

Brito said that he believes the bill is likely to pass “in some form.”

Meanwhile, supporters among lawmakers are trying to smooth off the rougher edges of already-passed legislation. Echoing pleas from crypto industry experts, a bipartisan group of House representatives has asked Biden-nominated Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to clarify aspects of the Infrastructure Bill that pertain to digital assets. The Infrastructure Bill was signed into law last November amid some controversy, as its definition of a “broker” is arguably too broad by including miners, software developers, transaction validators and node operators.