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A Phil Hall Op-Ed: The past week has been a historic time within the cryptocurrency world. President Trump signed an Executive Order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a US Digital Asset Stockpile, and he also hosted a crypto industry summit at the White House, the first meeting of its kind.

Also last week, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reversed Biden-era policies regarding which cryptocurrency activities were permissible in the federal banking system while rescinding the requirement for OCC-supervised institutions to “receive supervisory nonobjection and demonstrate that they have adequate controls in place before they can engage in these cryptocurrency activities.”

Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda said his agency was considering dropping a proposal introduced in 2022 that would require certain crypto firms to register as alternative trading systems.

But whether or not crypto history is being made at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) depends on if you believe a new article from the far-left media outlet ProPublica that said the department held meetings to discuss a potential pilot program using blockchain technology – the underlying technology supporting crypto – for the monitoring of HUD grants. ProPublica cited a trio of unnamed “officials familiar with the matter” as the source of their story, which insinuated repeatedly that HUD was angling to get into the crypto world.

In fairness, the article also cited two people who are “familiar with the matter” and had no problems being identified – Irving Dennis, HUD’s principal deputy chief financial officer, and spokesperson Kasey Lovett – and they bluntly stated the department was not focused on cryptocurrency. As for providing an expert in blockchain, the article also cited Hilary Allen, a law professor at American University who has nothing to do with today’s HUD operations. Allen harrumphed in a dyspeptic declaration, “Blockchain technology has been around for 15 years. No one wants to use it.”

The real question that was left unanswered by the article is how HUD would use crypto. The article quoted an unidentified “official” who suggested grant recipients could be paid in stablecoins. But that seems like a solution without a problem, especially when one considers these recipients are not set up for such transactions and most likely would rather deal in dollars rather that digital assets.

If there is a housing wild card in the federal government’s crypto focus, it would be Bill Pulte, who is in line to become the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Pulte, whose personal fortune includes crypto holdings, could possibly begin exploring how Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks could incorporate crypto into their operations. But to date, Pulte has not been talking up crypto-related endeavors at the FHFA.

While the federal government takes a new look at crypto, one needs to question whether this is what the public wants. Emerson College conducted a poll last month on this subject, seeking input from 1,000 Americans. The poll found a majority of respondents (57%) stating crypto is a scam, while 43% thought it was a legitimate form of currency. While a majority of all education groups viewed crypto as a scam, those with postgraduate degrees most strongly held those convictions at 66%.

“Men are more split on crypto: 52% think it is more of a scam and 48% think it is a legitimate form of currency, while 62% of women think it is more of a scam than a legitimate form of currency,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling.

So, what is your opinion? Where do you think crypto belongs in federal housing and economic policy? Share your thoughts in the comments section below – I am interested in what the readership has to say on this issue.

Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].