According to reports, the newly-elected US president Joe Biden will appoint prominent economist Janet Yellen as his Treasury Secretary.
There are strong chances that the US regulators will create strict rules and regulations around Bitcoin as it is approaching a new all-time high.
Ex-Fed Chair Janet Yellen
Yellen, who would claim the seat of Treasury Secretary, is not a fan of Bitcoin at all. From 2014 to 2018, she offered her services as a chair of the Federal Reserve. She did a splendid job to contain the negative economic effects that occurred as a result of the global financial crisis in 2018.
After Bitcoin reached its all-time high at $20,000, she revealed in a press conference that she was not a fan of Bitcoin. “[Bitcoin] is not a stable store of value and it doesn’t constitute legal tender,” Yellen said at the time.
She gave comments over the flagship cryptocurrency in 2017 when it showed outstanding volatility. It started its upward move from $1,000 and touched the figure of $20,000, but with the start of 2018, the value sent again as low as $3,000, which was the same level witnessed in the mid-March crash in 2020.
There are some rumors in the crypto sector that the current Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will put a lot of pressure on crypto products, including Bitcoin. However, we cannot see such actions on the part of the US authorities for the crypto industry.
Yellen also claimed in 2018 that Bitcoin was involved in illegal transactions, which were somehow true as there were many bad actors in the market who manipulated it for wrong actions. The same thing has been voiced by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that claimed cryptocurrency can pose a great threat to the US “national security.”
Some Bitcoin-inspired people expect good things from the Biden administration in terms of cryptocurrency adoption. “Joe Biden’s nascent administration should recognize the benefits of integrating bitcoin into the U.S. financial system,” said Niall Ferguson from Stanford University.
Trump’s administration is also not in favor of Bitcoin as Trump made very harsh comments over Bitcoin and its volatile nature. But the United States under Trump’s rule did not put a complete ban on cryptocurrencies like China and many other countries. Crypto members think the US regulators should devise a clear regulatory framework around cryptocurrency so that crypto-related business can flourish.