U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has given her opinions on the potential of a digital dollar but is hesitant to come to any conclusions at this stage in proceedings. Yellen said on Thursday that she had not formed a view on whether the Federal Reserve should create a digital version of the dollar, but such a move would require broad consensus among Congress, the U.S. central bank and the White House. This follows the recent reports that the Federal Reserve is currently researching whether an electronic version of the greenback would be beneficial or not. Yellen said that she sees …

Speaking publicly for the last time as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Randal Quarles urged regulators to exercise restraint on stablecoins. In a prepared statement for his speech at the American Enterprise Institute on Dec. 2, Quarles expressed concern that regulations could hamper innovation in the digital asset space, particularly when it comes to stablecoins. According to the Fed governor, some of the approaches on stablecoin regulation from the President's Working Group on Financial Markets’ November report are unnecessary, including “limiting wallet providers' affiliation with commercial entities.” “It is one thing to say …

The White House has reportedly begun interviews for possible candidates to fill the empty seats on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 2022. According to a Wednesday report from Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter, U.S. President Joe Biden is considering qualified candidates including Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic, former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray, and Duke University law professor Sarah Bloom Raskin to take over positions from Fed board members leaving in early 2022. Others under consideration reportedly include a former Treasury Department official under President Barack Obama, Karen …

Today Ether (ETH) price briefly touched $4,760, exciting investors and reminding the world that the altcoin is a mere 2.2% below the $4,870 all-time high reached 20 days ago. While the spot price action might be intriguing, let’s see what’s happening in Ether’s derivatives markets. While it is possible to draw a descending channel that shows support at $3,960, today's 5.4% positive move seems decoupled from Bitcoin's (BTC) negative performance. Earlier today, commodities and stocks took a hit after the U.S. Federal Reserve acknowledged that inflation is more than just a "transitory" trend and Fed chair Jerome Powell said that …

Global financial market took a hit on Nov. 30 after comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinted that inflation and the Omicron Covid-19 variant are growing threats and that the bank's easy money policies could end sooner than anticipated. Prior to Powell's comments, Bitcoin (BTC) had been on the rise and the digital asset had rallied 6% from a low of $55,840 in the early trading hours on Nov. 30 to an intraday high at $59,200, but the price was hammered back below $57,000 after the Fed's remarks. At the time of writing, Bitcoin has managed to climb …

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has announced it will be partnering with the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub as part of the launch of its New York Innovation Center, an initiative aimed at exploring technology used to develop the global financial system. In a Monday speech for the opening of the New York Innovation Center, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the partnership would support the agency’s analysis of digital currencies including the rollout of a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. The center plans to support analyses aimed at improving cross-border payment systems. “The pace of …

Are big emerging economies more likely to gravitate toward blanket crypto bans? China has set a precedent, and now it appears as if India could be weighing a similar policy direction: A bill containing a proposed ban on all “private cryptocurrencies” will go in front of the nation’s parliament sometime this winter. The measure is designed to clear the way for India’s central bank to advance its digital currency agenda. Whether a sovereign central bank digital currency can coexist with a thriving market of “private” cryptos will be one of the central questions of the looming CBDC age, and it …

Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, one of the lawmakers who supported amending the language around crypto in the recently passed infrastructure law, said the United States should lead the world in the adoption of a central bank digital currency. In a Nov. 23 interview with Bloomberg's David Westin, Toomey said the U.S. dollar should have “the most sophisticated capabilities of any currency in the world” as the country could benefit from a digital dollar. However, the senator said the rollout of any U.S. central bank digital currency should not rely on the Federal Reserve as a traditional bank for retail accounts, …

The United States Federal Reserve is planning to address ambiguities that they feel are plaguing digital asset regulation in the country following rapid analyses between government agencies. In a Nov. 23 announcement, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System said it recently worked with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on a series of “policy sprints” aimed at addressing regulatory clarity in the crypto space. The interagency effort included building a greater understanding of the terminology surrounding crypto assets, identifying potential risks, and analyzing existing regulatory frameworks to determine if any …

President Joe Biden has tapped Jerome Powell to serve another four-year term as the chair of the Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors. In a Monday announcement, the White House announced President Biden would be nominating Powell as his pick to lead the Federal Reserve once his current term ended in February. The executive branch cited Powell’s “decisive action” in lessening the economic impact brought on by the pandemic, as well as in the creation of 5.6 million jobs and a 4.6% unemployment rate. In addition, Biden chose current Fed board member Lael Brainard to be vice chair of the …

In a speech published Wednesday noon, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller reiterated his skepticism for implementing a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, in the United States. However, Waller is not an ordinary cryptocurrency skeptic, as he cites the development of genuine private-sector payment innovations, specifically stablecoins, as the reason why CBDCs are not needed. Top Stablecoins by Market Capitalization | Source: Treasury Report on Stablecoins (Nov. 2021) Despite the positive outlook, Waller highlighted three risks surrounding stablecoins. The first of which he noted as a potential destabilizing run, where unregulated or unscrupulous issuers provide financial instruments that go …

Bitcoin (BTC) logged its worst daily performance since September as BTC price slid by 10% to under $59,000 on Tuesday. On the other hand, the U.S. dollar jumped to its best level in sixteen months after spending across the American retail sector grew despite persistent Covid-19 fears and inflation concerns. The BTC price established an intraday low of around $58,600 on Coinbase, only to retreat higher to reclaim $60,000 as its psychological support. Its move downside appeared as U.S. President Joe Biden signed the $550 billion infrastructure bill into law, including new tax-reporting requirements for cryptocurrency users. Some used the …