Janet Yellen, an American economist who currently serves as the 78th Secretary of the Treasury, has spoken out several times against crypto. During her 20-month stint as a treasury custodian, she has said that paying with Bitcoin is never going to work and people definitely shouldn’t invest their retirement into it.
Is it done with Yellen?
Now there are rumors that the so-called midterm elections could well mean the end of Yellen. It is not yet possible to say whether a possible successor to Yellen will be more pro-crypto. It is clear that Yellen has been involved in the political polonaise of the United States for years. In 1994, then-President Bill Clinton made her part of the board of the Federal Reserve.
Three years later, she gave up that role to join the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) as chair. She was then appointed chairman of the San Francisco Federal Reserve in 2004, becoming the first woman in the United States to hold that position. She returned to the Federal Reserve in 2010 as vice chairman of the board, later becoming president of the central bank.
Criticism of Trump
In Trump’s years, Yellen was not politically active, but mostly lectured in the United States and beyond, also strongly criticizing the Trump administration. After the election of current President Joe Biden, Yellen returned to the White House as custodian of the Treasury. It was only during that period that she began to stir up the debate surrounding Bitcoin.
Before that, Yellen said little to nothing about Bitcoin. According to Yellen, Bitcoin is primarily a means of speculation and an extremely inefficient asset that is often used by criminals. A few months later, she even gave a speech all about crypto. In it, she reiterated her stance that crypto is a threat to the financial system and that lawmakers should address the industry.
