Former Fed Chairwoman And Bitcoin Bear Janet Yellen Nominated For Treasury Secretary
President-elect Joe Biden has picked the former US Federal Reserve Chair Janet L. Yellen as the next Treasury secretary.
The cryptocurrency community has shown skepticism regarding the potential effects on Bitcoin, as Yellen has historically displayed negativism on BTC.
Biden Nominates Yellen For Treasury Secretary
As firstly reported by The Wall Street Journal, the US president-elect Joe Biden has decided to nominate the former Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen as the next Treasury secretary.
Although Yellen has received the support of numerous powerful political figures in the US, she would occupy the Treasury secretary position in one of the most challenging economic times for the country in recent history.
Should the Senate confirm her nomination, the 74-year old labor economist will lead the administration’s efforts to recover from the COVID-19 consequences. The US confirmed cases are climbing again, while local governments are instituting further restrictions that will prompt more economic hurdles.
She has displayed a lot of support for government aid to workers and businesses, which raises speculations that the US would continue with massive stimulus packages. After all, Yellen said in a Bloomberg interview that “while the pandemic is still seriously affecting the economy, we need to continue extraordinary fiscal support.”
Apart from previously serving as Fed Chair, Yellen also led the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration. She is also a former academic who taught at the University of California, Berkley, and was the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
But What About Bitcoin?
While Yellen would undoubtedly have to face numerous challenges in helping the US economy recover from its 2020 downfall, her position as the Treasury secretary would impact in some way the cryptocurrency industry, and Bitcoin in particular.
However, she hasn’t displayed much support for the digital asset field. During an interview at the 2018 Canada FinTech Forum in Montreal, she claimed that BTC is “anything but useful.”
She went on to further bash the primary cryptocurrency saying that it’s not a stable source of value and it’s not an efficient means of processing payments. Furthermore, Yellen noted that bitcoin had been primary used for illegal transactions by bad actors.
She was inadvertently involved in a rather compelling Bitcoin moment a few years back. A “buy Bitcoin” sign flashed during one of her appearances before a Congressional committee.
Despite her negativism on BTC, though, she has been quite optimistic on blockchain, saying that it’s a “very important, new technology that could have implications for the way in which transactions are handled throughout the financial system.”
With that in mind, it would be compelling to follow how the entire Biden administration would tackle and impact the cryptocurrency industry in the next (at least) four years.
Featured Image Courtesy of CNN
