Janet Yellen to issue her first crypto speech on Thursday

The US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, is expected to give her first official speech about the policies and regulations of the cryptocurrency sector. The speech is slated for Thursday, 10:30 AM ET.

Yellen’s speech comes amid the US efforts to regulate the cryptocurrency sector. The US is currently one of the largest crypto economies globally and the largest Bitcoin miner with a nearly 40% hash rate.

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Yellen’s first speech on crypto

The US Treasury released an announcement on Tuesday saying,

Secretary Yellen will make the case for a consistent and comprehensive policy framework that promotes responsible innovation of digital assets and appropriately assesses and mitigates the risks they may pose.

Yellen’s speech could tackle various issues in the crypto sector, including assessing the adoption of digital assets, the technology behind digital assets, and how digital assets are shaping the US economy.

Yellen has been a critic of the cryptocurrency sector. Early last year, the official said that Bitcoin was “extremely inefficient” in energy consumption and energy utility. Together with the chair of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, they have highlighted the risks that crypto presents to the US dollar and the monetary system.

The US ramps up efforts to regulate crypto

Last month, the US president, Joe Biden, signed an executive order asking federal agencies to work together to regulate the cryptocurrency industry. The order also required an assessment of the benefits and risks realized from using cryptocurrencies.

The US Treasury and other relevant agencies were also instructed to look into the feasibility of a US digital dollar. The development of a digital dollar could boost the presence of the US in the buzzing crypto industry.

This week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission chair, Gary Gensler, asked for a collaboration with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate crypto exchanges. In February, the head of the CFTC, Rostin Behman, spoke before the US Senate, saying that the regulatory body was ready to embrace the challenges of the cryptocurrency sector.