As President-elect Biden continues to complete his list of appointees, he has appointed the chair of the Obama Federal Reserve to lead the economic policy of his administration.
And according to the exclusive Wall Street Journal published on November 23, Biden's team is planning to nominate Janet Yellen for the position of Treasury Secretary. Obama originally appointed Yellen to the Federal Reserve in 2014, where she remained until early 2018.
In a period filled with a massive expansion in public knowledge of cryptocurrencies and ending immediately after Bitcoin's dramatic rise of 2017, Yellen was constantly criticizing the field, describing Bitcoin as "useless" in October 2018.
However, times have changed dramatically in just two years. At the end of 2017, Yellen rejected the idea that the Fed was considering issuing a digital dollar. Meanwhile, over the course of 2020, the Fed has clearly begun to take this possibility seriously.
For her part, Yellen appears to have been silent about cryptocurrencies since leaving the Federal Reserve and going to work for a think tank. Its position on the matter remains unspecified.
If approved by the Senate, Yellen would be the first woman to serve as Treasury Secretary. Although recent public statements indicate that it will be more willing to expand spending than incumbent Stephen Mnuchin, who recently criticized the end of several emergency lending programs, it is widely seen as a moderate candidate.
The Treasury Department has increasingly dealt with cryptocurrencies over the past year. Offices within the Treasury include the Financial Crime Enforcement Network, the IRS, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, all of which routinely make headlines for the increased attention it gives to the field.
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