US PRESIDENT Joe Biden is weighing up appointing a cryptocurrency despot to handle Bitcoin and its rivals.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the prospective executive order is part of an effort to set up a government-wide approach to digital assets.
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It comes as the Biden administration cracks down on crypto over its links to money laundering and criminal activity.
Sources told Bloomberg that the potential new White House crypto king would direct federal agencies to study crypto and give recommendations.
They would reportedly touch on financial regulation, economic innovation and national security.
A White House crypto czar would ultimately act as a point person on the issue, one person said.
The White House has not commented on the proposed order.
The US President has turned up the heat on cryptocurrencies in recent weeks over its links to the criminal underworld.
Last week, the Biden administration unveiled sanctions against a cryptocurrency exchange over its alleged role in enabling illegal payments from ransomware attacks.
The Treasury Department accused Suex of facilitating transactions involving illicit proceeds for at least eight ransomware variants.
It’s the first such move against a virtual currency exchange over ransomware activity.
“Exchanges like Suex are critical to attackers’ ability to extract profits from ransomware attackers,” Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.
The action “is a signal of our intention to expose and disrupt the illicit infrastructure using these attacks.”
It came after President Biden announced that the U.S. will bring together 30 countries to stop “the illicit use of cryptocurrency.”
He’s not the only US president to criticise the currency.
Earlier this year, former president Donald Trump called Bitcoin a “scam against the dollar.”
Speaking to Fox Business in June, he expressed concerns that the cryptocurrency is threatening the value of the US dollar.
“Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam,” Mr Trump said. “I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing against the dollar.”
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In other news, crypto investors were sent into panic last month after a data provider showed a 90 per cent plunge in Bitcoin’s value.
The price of Bitcoin rocketed in July following claims Amazon could start accepting the cryptocurrency as payment by the end of the year.
Nine apps have had to be removed from the Google Play Store after they were caught stealing Facebook passwords.
Facebook is facing backlash in the US over plans to create a version of Instagram for children under 13.
And, influencers who don’t clearly state if they’ve edited photos which are advertisements could be fined or imprisoned in Norway due to a new law.
This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
