US Treasury Secretary Spoke About Her Views On Crypto Regulation
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gave a speech on digital assets. The speech is the first response from any agency to President Biden’s March executive order calling for agencies to coordinate efforts on cryptocurrency policy.
Yellen’s speech was carefully drafted, not to alarm stakeholders in the cryptocurrency industry. Instead, she talked about cryptocurrencies and her prognosis for their regulation in relation to historical parallels.
Referring back to Alexander Hamilton and the private banknotes that precipitated the National Banking Act under Lincoln, Yellen affirmed “A crisis catalyzed reform.”
What does this mean in the context of crypto? Like others in the administration — such as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler — have suggested, cryptocurrencies and the firms that handle them largely fall under existing statutory categories.
Yellen said:
“Digital assets may be new, but many of the issues they present are not. We have enjoyed the benefits of innovation in the past, and we have also confronted some of the unintended consequences.
The principle of tech neutrality is also applicable to concerns related to tax evasion, illicit finance, and national security – topics that are particularly pertinent in the world today. It’s illegal to evade taxes, launder money, or avoid sanctions. It doesn’t matter whether you’re using checks, wires, or cryptocurrency.”
Regardless, the Treasury Secretary maintained the President’s Working Group’s push for new legislation when it comes to stablecoins, but she did not explicitly support the PWG’s original push to restrict stablecoin issuance to insured depository institutions.
On Wednesday 6 April, Yellen testified before the House Financial Services Committee on the state of international finance, heavily focused on the Treasury’s sanctions on Russia. The day before, the Treasury sanctioned Russia-based darknet market Hydra and associated crypto exchange Garantex, an action that Yellen made mentioned in her two subsequent appearances.
