United States President Joe Biden will speak directly about cryptocurrency and its role in the attack on the Colonial Pipeline and other ransomware breaches, according to Biden\u2019s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.<\/p>\n
In a White House press briefing on Monday, Sullivan said U.S. officials, seemingly including Biden, would like to see an action plan regarding ransomware attacks during the president\u2019s visit to the G-7 summit this weekend. The national security adviser said this plan should address the resilience of such attacks, how to share information with other democracies and \u201chow to deal with the cryptocurrency challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan said crypto \u201clies at the core of how these ransom transactions are played out,\u201d citing cyberattacks as a \u201cnational security priority\u201d for the U.S. government \u2014 particularly, for \u201ccritical infrastructure.\u201d His remarks follow hackers breaching the network behind the Colonial Pipeline in May, reportedly forcing the firm to pay $4.4 million in ransom.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s gotta become a priority on a going forward basis,\u201d said Sullivan, referring to the G-7 addressing such ransomware attacks. He described the issue as a \u201cdifferent order of magnitude of a security threat that the alliance has to concern itself with in a way that it hasn\u2019t historically.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Biden has, as an individual, largely been silent on crypto and blockchain both as vice president under former President Barack Obama and during his campaign for office. Last July, then-candidate Biden said he didn\u2019t hold Bitcoin (BTC),\u00a0following a massive hack\u00a0that took over high-profile accounts and asked their followers to send crypto. <\/p>\n
However, his administration is reportedly reviewing existing rules around crypto and determining whether new restrictions are needed to protect investors following volatility in the market. Since hitting an all-time high price of roughly $65,000 in April, Bitcoin has fallen more than 44% to reach $35,588 at the time of publication. <\/p>\n
The G-7 summit is scheduled to be held in the United Kingdom from June 11 to 13. It will be Biden\u2019s first foreign trip acting as U.S. president since his inauguration in January. <\/p>\n