Janet Yellen Admits Crypto Has Benefits — Says Treasury Working on Crypto Regulation – Regulation Bitcoin News

Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury secretary has acknowledged that cryptocurrency offers many benefits. Crypto has grown by leaps and bounds and is now “playing a significant role” in the investment decisions of lots of Americans, Yellen said, adding that the Treasury Department is working on regulatory recommendations for healthy innovation.

Treasury Secretary Yellen Recognizes the Benefits of Crypto

In an interview on Friday with CNBC, Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury Secretary discussed cryptocurrency. In light of Russia’s recent statements about accepting Bitcoin as payment, Janet Yellen was asked questions regarding cryptocurrency.

Yellen replied:

Crypto has obviously grown by leaps and bounds and it’s now playing a significant role, not really so much in transactions, but in investment decisions of lots of Americans.

She proceeded to explain that President Joe Biden’s executive order tasks the treasury department and other federal agencies with “thinking about the regulation of crypto.”

When asked about whether she is still skeptical about crypto, the treasury secretary commented: “I have a little bit of skepticism because I think there are valid concerns around it. Some have to do with financial stability, consumer-investor protection, use for illicit transactions, and other things.” She added:

However, crypto has its benefits and we acknowledge that innovation in payment systems can be beneficial.

“We would like to come out eventually with recommendations that will create a regulatory environment” for healthy innovation, she opined.

Yellen announced earlier this month that the Treasury would monitor cryptocurrency to determine if it was being used by Russian entities and individuals to evade sanctions. “We will continue to look at how the sanctions work and evaluate whether or not there are leakages, and we have the possibility to address them,” she said.

A senior official from the department stated that it was not possible for crypto to be used on a large scale in order to avoid sanctions.

What do you think about Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s comments? Comment below.

Kevin Helms

Kevin is a graduate of Austrian Economics. He discovered Bitcoin in 2011, and has been an advocate ever since. His main interests are in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects, cryptography, and intersections between economics, cryptography, and Cryptography.