United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is concerned about crypto's supposed criminal element. In Feb. 10 remarks to a financial sector innovation roundtable, United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that the misuse of cryptocurrencies and virtual assets has been a growing problem alongside cyber attacks triggered by the global pandemic. Secretary Yellen said that despite the potential of new technologies like crypto, such assets are still associated with major risks. “I see the promise of these new technologies, but I also see the reality: cryptocurrencies have been used to launder the profits of online drug traffickers; they’ve been a …

The four horsemen of U.S. financial regulation will meet to discuss market manipulation concerns resulting from the headline-grabbing drama surrounding GameStop stock last week. Per a Feb. 2 report from the Wall Street Journal, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is gathering the leadership of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Federal Reserve, possibly as soon as Thursday. The SEC already announced that it was looking into recent market manipulation. The inclusion of the CFTC and the Fed suggest that the conversation is going to extend far beyond Robinhood, Reddit and GameStop. Aside from the spillover …

Today Bitcoin (BTC) price continued to face selling pressure in the $32,500 to $33,000 resistance cluster and this led to a mild 3% to 5% pull back from most altcoins. Despite the recent revelation that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has given the green light for two of its funds to invest in Bitcoin futures, BTC price still struggles to gain momentum above the $33,000 level. Meanwhile, the DeFi sector continues to flourish as Venus (XVS) and Fantom (FTM) saw their prices increase 23% overnight and the total value locked in DeFi protocols currently stands at $25.77 billion. Following …

The United States Treasury Department's now-infamous proposal to require information on crypto transfers from exchanges to self-hosted wallets is back in motion. Per a Tuesday announcement from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, stakeholders will have another 60 days to respond to the proposal. While a marked improvement from the 15-day comment period of the original proposal, unfortunately for the crypto industry, it doesn't look like the actual terms of the proposal have changed along with the administration. The news follows Janet Yellen's confirmation as secretary of the Treasury last night. Shortly after his inauguration, President Joe Biden ordered …

Bitcoin’s (BTC) tumble below $30,000 was short-lived as the top cryptocurrency found a new wave of support, including a $10 million ‘buy the dip’ moment from MicroStrategy. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows the strong inflows have helped lift BTC 4.92% to a daily high at $33,866. As the prospect of the Biden administration passing massive stimulus packages to help get the United States economy going again, conversations about Bitcoin becoming a reserve currency are beginning to pop up again. Although Bitcoin’s recent volatility has some analysts saying BTC is a cyclical asset rather than a hedge, the price …

Janet Yellen, the former Chair of the Federal Reserve, is one step closer to earning the nomination of Treasury Secretary. The Senate Committee on Finance voted unanimously to approve Yellen’s nomination Friday morning, setting the stage for a full Senate vote. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said he hoped the GOP’s backing would signal “bipartisan” support under the new Democratic administration. Fellow Republicans said they backed Yellen despite disagreeing on several of her policy stances. The general consensus was that she was exceptionally qualified for the job. Committee members hoped for a full Senate vote to confirm Yellen's appointment on Friday …

U.S. President Joe Biden's pick for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen may see more benefits to cryptocurrency than her previous testimony indicated. After a virtual hearing of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee held on Tuesday, Yellen hit the headlines for her answer to Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan’s question about how she would respond to “emerging financial technology” being used to fund criminal organizations and terrorists. Yellen referred to cryptocurrencies as a “growing concern” in the U.S., said they were used “mainly for illicit financing” for the aforementioned groups, and that the U.S. government needed to examine ways to “curtail” the use …

On Tuesday, Ether (ETH) underwent a bullish breakout which propelled the price to a new all-time high at $1,428. While the move may have been technical, the fundamentals for Etheruem continue to improve as less than one month after launch there is now $3.8 billion worth of ETH locked on the Eth2 blockchain. The rapid rise in price has clearly attracted the attention of pro traders but Cointelegraph analyst Marcel Pechman warns that Ether’s rise to a new high was also accompanied by a large increase in short positions. Ether’s break to a new high had little effect on Bitcoin …

Janet Yellen, a former leader at the Federal Reserve and Joe Biden's pick for Treasury Secretary, is still suspicious of crypto as a threat for illicit financing. In a virtual hearing of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee held today, Yellen faced questions on combating the financing of terrorism, or CFT, from Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan from New Hampshire. Hassan asked Yellen how she would respond as Treasury Secretary to “emerging financial technology” used to fund criminal organizations and terrorists. The senator called cryptocurrencies a “growing concern” and asked Biden’s pick how she would handle CFT. "We need to make sure …

The crypto lobby seems to be cautiously optimistic about Biden's potential picks to lead the U.S.'s regulatory environment. That is, at least, according to a Thursday discussion hosted by TRM labs, featuring the executive directors of the Blockchain Association and Coin Center — respectively Kristin Smith and Jerry Brito. The pair got into a discussion of who they hope the Biden administration nominates to top regulatory agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, given that Janet Yellen seems to be a shoe-in to get the top spot at …

As President-Elect Biden continues to round out his roster of appointees, he has tapped an Obama-era chair of the Federal Reserve to lead his administration's economic policy. According to a Wall Street Journal exclusive published on Nov. 23, the Biden team plans to nominate Janet Yellen to serve as Treasury Secretary. Obama originally appointed Yellen to the Fed in 2014, where she remained until early 2018. In a term that lined up with a massive expansion of public knowledge of cryptocurrencies and ended right after Bitcoin's dramatic 2017 bull run, Yellen was consistently critical of the space, calling Bitcoin "anything …

Bitcoin is “anything but” a useful store of value, former U.S. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen stated in a speech Monday, Canadian financial news outlet Kitco reported Oct. 29. Speaking during an interview at the 2018 Canada FinTech Forum in Montreal, Yellen – who rose to fame in the cryptocurrency community last year as the target of the now infamous ‘Buy Bitcoin’ session at a House Financial Services Committee meeting – doubled down on her previous criticism of the asset. “It has long been thought that for something to be a useful currency, it needs to be a stable source …