President Trump signed an executive order Thursday that moved the U.S. closer to creating a national stockpile of cryptocurrency.

The order establishes a working group tasked with developing a new regulatory framework for digital currency.

Venture Capitalist David Saks, whom Mr. Trump tapped to be his crypto and artificial intelligence czar, joined the president in the Oval Office for the signing ceremony.

The order fulfills Mr. Trump’s campaign promises to be a “crypto president” and implement the adoption of digital currencies by the federal government.

Under the order, the working group will review how to develop a national digital asset stockpile, “potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the federal government through its law enforcement effort.” Typically, federal law enforcement agencies have auctioned seized cryptocurrencies.

Mr. Trump’s order spells out other key priorities for establishing digital assets, including protecting individuals and private sector companies who use blockchain networks from “persecution.” It also outlines protections for cryptocurrency developers, saying they should be free to “develop and deploy software.

The order also vows to protect the rights of those who choose to keep digital assets in their own custody, meaning they don’t rely on a centralized crypto entity to hold their tokens and other assets.

Instead, they use personal crypto wallets, which sometimes keep the assets off the Internal Revenue Services’ radar.

Mr. Trump was highly critical of cryptocurrency in his first administration but changed his mind on the campaign trail and promoted its adoption by the government. His campaign was bolstered by heavy contributions from the crypto community, which accounted for almost half of the corporate donations in the 2024 election cycle.

Mr. Trump has appointed a slew of crypto-friendly individuals to various positions in his government, including Treasury secretary and chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.