Treasury Secretary pick Janet Yellen told Congress the U.S. needs to examine ways to 'curtail the use' of crypto.
The first day of Joe Biden’s presidency hasn’t been greeted with a lot of cheer in the crypto markets.
At the time of writing at 12pm London time on Wednesday, Bitcoin was down by 6.86% — losing $35,000 in the process. And after touching all-time highs of about $1,440 on Tuesday, Ether suffered a fall of about 7.43%... taking it below $1,300.
According to Santiment, “there is an increasing amount of trader doubt that Bitcoin will revisit $40,000” — but the data analytics company stressed that the long-term trend continues to look healthy overall.
One key reason for the midweek correction could be linked to the testimony of Janet Yellen, Biden’s pick for U.S. Treasury Secretary, during her confirmation hearing in Congress.
The former Fed chair warned that cryptocurrencies are “a particular concern” because of how they have been connected to the financing of terrorism, adding:
“I think many are used, at least in a transactions sense, mainly for illicit financing and I think we really need to examine ways in which we can curtail their use and make sure that anti-money laundering doesn’t occur through those channels.”
Crypto traders have been determinedly looking for clues as to how Biden’s administration will treat digital assets — and Yellen’s remarks could be the surest sign yet that it won’t be all plain sailing for the likes of Bitcoin and Ether with a new occupant in the Oval Office.
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