Tag: us treasury

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Secretary Yellen Discusses Digital Assets At House Financial Services Hearing

Secretary Janet Yellen

Highlights from today’s U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen‘s appearance in front of the House Financial Services Committee for the hearing, “The Annual Testimony of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the International Financial System.”

Digital assets were discussed during the Q&A with Secretary Yellen by several Members of Congress. Video is here.

Click below or scroll down for a selection of what was said:

(lightly edited for clarity)

REP. HILL (R, AR): The FSOC (The Financial Stability Oversight Council) report  recommended that Congress passed legislation to provide regulators authority over stock markets for digital assets as well as legislation we could regulators more authority to have visibility into or supervise digital asset companies. We’re working on that here in Congress. Are those recommendations from late summer’s FSOC report (see the report) still the recommendations of FSOC… still the view of FSOC? Continue reading “Secretary Yellen Discusses Digital Assets At House Financial Services Hearing”

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Treasury, SEC and CFTC Leaders Commiserate With Financial Markets On Crypto

Secretary Yellen

It’s not every 350-person trade conference that could attract a Cabinet member and the chairs of two U.S. regulatory agencies. But, that’s the importance of the annual meeting of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) to the Biden Administration and keepers of the financial system at-large. And crypto took a “bow” repeatedly during the day-long agenda.

SIFMA defines itself as representation for broker-dealers, investment banks and asset managers and was formed in the early 2000s from the merger of the Bond Market Association and the Securities Industry Association according to Wikipedia. The day’s content showed that crypto is a subset of key concerns for the industry which include public policy & financial regulation, “modernization of finance” and retail investors.

As stated during the meeting by SIFMA President and CEO Kenneth Bentsen, consumer protections are at the top of the list – at least publicly – in terms of his organization’s views on crypto’s entry into the global financial system.

Janet Yellen – prepared remarks

The first U.S. government representative to take the stage was U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Her prepared remarks are here. The highlights include:

    • On the U.S. economy – Sec. Yellen began by reassuring the audience that there is “significant strength” in the U.S. economy amid the global tempest of war and inflation to name a few. But, “inflation remains too high, and we are contending with serious global headwinds.”
    • On crypto – She touted recent reports from Treasury in response to the Biden Executive Order on digital assets saying, “Our goal is to realize the potential benefits of digital assets while mitigating and minimizing their risks.” She stressed the need for “adequate regulation.”

Janet Yellen – Q&A

During the Q&A with SIFMA’s Bentsen, Sec. Yellen said regarding digital assets:
Continue reading “Treasury, SEC and CFTC Leaders Commiserate With Financial Markets On Crypto”

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No KYC, No AML, No Service: Mixing Services Run Afoul Of US Treasury

tornado cash

The raison d’être of mixing services or tumblers have always been perplexing to law abiding citizens throughout the world. Their most well-known purpose is to undo one of the blockchain’s most important properties: transparency.

By taking stolen blockchain assets such as Ether or Bitcoin that may have been drained from unsuspecting users’ wallets, thieves can use a mixing service to turn cryptocurrency into essentially new, almost untraceable Ether or Bitcoin that may be used without fear of being tracked. Or put another way, KYC AML connections to the original assets have been erased.

Today, the US Treasury announced it has placed the most well-known mixer, Tornado Cash, as well as 44 associated crypto wallet addresses on a financial sanctions list known as OFAC’s SDN (Specially Designated Nationals) list. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) is part of the US Treasury and “administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals…”

This is the second mixing service to be sanctioned after Blender.io in May and is responsible for funneling funds from seven major hacks according to the Department. From the US Treasury’s press release:
Continue reading “No KYC, No AML, No Service: Mixing Services Run Afoul Of US Treasury”