Crypto Order Pushes Biden’s Consumer Watchdogs to More Oversight

President Joe Biden’s cryptocurrency executive order put the nation’s two federal consumer protection regulators front and center in regulating digital money.

The Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have largely taken a back seat to other financial regulators when it comes to crypto. But Biden’s March 9 order directed the CFPB and FTC to study how they can police crypto transactions for fraud and abuse, a mission both agencies are equipped to do.

“They’ve taken the position that crypto is not a consumer product, but as of [March 9] that position is done,” said Laurel Loomis Rimon, ...