A new law granting the United States president extensive powers to block access to digital assets has sparked significant concern among commentators on X. Scott Johnsson, a notable figure in the digital assets field, criticized the law's broad scope, suggesting it could effectively enable the president to ban any protocol or smart contract linked to foreign sanctions violators. This move, he argues, could force users onto KYC-compliant and permissioned chains.

The law broadly defines "digital assets" to include any digital value representation on cryptographically secured distributed ledgers, covering communication protocols, smart contracts, or other software. Senator Mark Warner's legislative actions appear to have enabled these new sweeping powers, allowing the president to block transactions between U.S. persons and foreign entities supporting terrorism, and impose strict conditions on foreign financial institutions if they facilitate such transactions.

Johnsson suggests the law could be a strategy to control digital assets under the pretext of combating terrorism, ultimately limiting users to regulated blockchains. The legislative elements enabling this empowerment are reportedly derived from the Terrorism Financing Prevention Act, which targets emerging threats involving digital assets.