Biden treasury secretary nominee Yellen says "curtail bitcoin"

[cr1776]

Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for treasury secretary, suggested on Tuesday that lawmakers "curtail" the use of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin over concerns that they are "mainly" used for illegal activities. Yellen's comments suggested the incoming Biden administration could be hostile to cryptocurrencies and ramp up regulation. Watchdogs around the world, from the European Central Bank to the UK's financial regulator, have recently expressed concerns about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-price-cryptocurrency-should-be-curtailed-terrorism-concerns-yellen-2021-1-1029985692

The authoritarians (socialist, fascist etc) know that something like bitcoin will curtail their ability to:
1. Print money to debase and secretly steal money from people through inflation.
2. Control all uses of money in order to shut down debate.
3. Take assets across borders preventing their ability to control it.

In short, bitcoin and p2p software will undermine their ability to control, rule, tax, and eventually destroy with their policies, the world.  Bitcoin gives people power over themselves, power to control their own destinies and the power-hungry elite do not like it.

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[Upgrade00]

The 'bitcoin is used for illegal activity' narrative is becoming less popular and using it as a means of attacking Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies shows how little the government knows or is willing to know about decentralized currencies. Regardless of their position on Bitcoin, they do not have the authority to curtail the network, they could declare it illegal and limit exchanges from accepting transactions from certain regions, but cannot prevent onchain transactions as they have no control on the blockchain.

I usually do not expect approval from government agencies as bitcoin contradicts the existing financial system, their attacks shows it is functioning the way it was designed to.

[EdgeoftheContinent]

She also said the Fed cannot regulate Bitcoin in 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-vTleht5Hw

[Dutchyyy]

Biden already promised 400bn for local manufacturing, 300bn for researches, 1.9tn covid-19 plan, and I guess that he will not stop any time soon.

Do you think that the dollar will sink big here?

[AmoreJaz]

The 'bitcoin is used for illegal activity' narrative is becoming less popular and using it as a means of attacking Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies shows how little the government knows or is willing to know about decentralized currencies. Regardless of their position on Bitcoin, they do not have the authority to curtail the network, they could declare it illegal and limit exchanges from accepting transactions from certain regions, but cannot prevent onchain transactions as they have no control on the blockchain.

I usually do not expect approval from government agencies as bitcoin contradicts the existing financial system, their attacks shows it is functioning the way it was designed to.

that's the usual attack of uninformed person towards bitcoin. she needs to educate herself regarding crypto before she seriously say something towards it. because if she will not, she will just be a laughing stock in the crypto community. she needs to consider the fact that a lot of their financial institutions are into crypto right now. so what they did see in crypto that make them patronise crypto this time?

[squatter]

She also said the Fed cannot regulate Bitcoin in 2014.

The Fed can't because they only regulate the banking system. Bitcoin obviously operates outside of it.

The Treasury Department -- which Yellen is about to oversee -- has more relevance. They can bring Bitcoin within the purview of existing MSB regulation. They can mandate strict reporting requirements for Bitcoin businesses so that spending or selling your bitcoins comes with onerous AML/KYC. They can work closely with the IRS to leverage new AML/KYC requirements into a tax enforcement and compliance program.

[aoluain]

She is shi++ing herself, she knows that on one side they are printing money, a ticking time bomb
and on the other side there is Bitcoin looking very attractive to investors, a game changer.

Big investors or extremely wealthy people are not going to watch their wealth melt because
of QE, Bitcoin is the only destination regardless of AML/KYC requirements.

[verita1]

Janet Yellen nominated as secretary of the treasury in the administration of president-elect Joe Biden I think it is not positive for Bitcoin. She has a biased view on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, this new administration needs to be supported by fresh ideas full of innovation.
OMG! She suggests "curtail" the use of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin because they are used "mainly" for illegal activities.

[xcaret]

The Treasury Department -- which Yellen is about to oversee -- has more relevance. They can bring Bitcoin within the purview of existing MSB regulation. They can mandate strict reporting requirements for Bitcoin businesses so that spending or selling your bitcoins comes with onerous AML/KYC. They can work closely with the IRS to leverage new AML/KYC requirements into a tax enforcement and compliance program.
[/quote]

I have never used p2p , does it still go through a regulated exchange ? 
Starting to look scary

[Darker45]

"Mainly used for illegal activities?" Janet Yellen must have been kept in the dark in terms of the growth of Bitcoin's usage. She is making statements regarding Bitcoin as if the present is still 2011-2013. Does she have any hard data to back up her claim?

Well, figures differ but as per Chainalysis, "only 1% of $1 trillion transacted in crypto in 2019 was illicit.^[1] Furthermore, "chainalysis reports in 2020, cryptocurrency criminal activity fell to 0.34%."^[2] These figures are not error-free but at least they have the bases in claiming so unlike Yellen's "mainly used for illegal activities" claim.

And, can somebody please inform the old lady that even PayPal is already starting to adopt crypto?

[1] https://cointelegraph.com/news/chainalysis-only-1-of-1-trillion-transacted-in-crypto-in-2019-was-illicit
[2] https://www.coindesk.com/criminal-activity-in-crypto-transactions-fell-sharply-in-2020-says-chainalysis

[Adamini]

Although they know that the development trend of bitcoin is good, they want to control it, which is their consistent practice

[Lorence.xD]

The 'bitcoin is used for illegal activity' narrative is becoming less popular and using it as a means of attacking Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies shows how little the government knows or is willing to know about decentralized currencies. Regardless of their position on Bitcoin, they do not have the authority to curtail the network, they could declare it illegal and limit exchanges from accepting transactions from certain regions, but cannot prevent onchain transactions as they have no control on the blockchain.

I usually do not expect approval from government agencies as bitcoin contradicts the existing financial system, their attacks shows it is functioning the way it was designed to.

If this curtail plan goes in motion, I think that it will be detrimental for bitcoin and the bitcoin community because USA seems to be the role model of some third world countries. This might not concern those who live in other parts of the world but having a superpower trying to regulate bitcoin will surely make an echo effect towards other countries. They have the reasons to attack bitcoin though, bitcoin is definitely anonymous which means that you can use it to launder money but I do not think that many money laundering schemes are using cryptocurrency to hide their money, most of the time, shell companies, smurf bank clients and tax havens are the best bet for this people. It is natural that government will attack anything that threatens their power.

[kolesozw]

This is not good.

Are the new USA President and administration the reason for the recent dip? And if so, how deep do you think it could go? I'm afraid we are in a new bear phase.

[pooya87]

Historically the more corrupted the government is the more they are worried about bitcoin. Already some of the most corrupt governments have either banned bitcoin or caused a lot of issues for bitcoin users such as the case of Bangladesh and India. Meanwhile where the corruption is less and the banking system is less criminal they have been open to bitcoin such as Japan, Switzerland,...

Random people commenting on what should be done (even if they are part of the government) doesn't matter. They have been doing that forever. What matters is if the government is going to actually do those t hings.

[davis196]

The 'bitcoin is used for illegal activity' narrative is becoming less popular and using it as a means of attacking Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies shows how little the government knows or is willing to know about decentralized currencies. Regardless of their position on Bitcoin, they do not have the authority to curtail the network, they could declare it illegal and limit exchanges from accepting transactions from certain regions, but cannot prevent onchain transactions as they have no control on the blockchain.

I usually do not expect approval from government agencies as bitcoin contradicts the existing financial system, their attacks shows it is functioning the way it was designed to.

Nah,the "Bitcoin is used for illegal activity" narrative is still as popular as before.The Bitcoin haters and FUDsters will never stop using that narrative.90% of the people around the world still don't know anything about Bitcoin,so this narrative will scare them away.
Bitcoin and the crypto industry might become illegal in the US,the possibility of this happen isn't big,but it still exists.I'm sure that Bitcoin will survive this,but the Bitcoin price will never reach 42K USD again.

[Upgrade00]

Nah,the "Bitcoin is used for illegal activity" narrative is still as popular as before.The Bitcoin haters and FUDsters will never stop using that narrative.90% of the people around the world still don't know anything about Bitcoin

I don't think it is. It's still used by those who spread FUD and government agencies, but that's the extent of it. When Bitcoin was still at its very early stage a lot of people shared that idea, that it was currency for the darkweb, but with current adoption and integration by platforms like PayPal, Square, Grayscale and other top platforms, that narrative is not as popular.
And with the current age of social media hearing and researching about Bitcoin has become very easy, only a very small peecent use it, but a much higher number know about it to various extents.

Bitcoin and the crypto industry might become illegal in the US,the possibility of this happen isn't big,but it still exists.I'm sure that Bitcoin will survive this,but the Bitcoin price will never reach 42K USD again.

America has the largest Bitcoin market, and most holders would not simply give up their assets if it was banned. A lot would move out to more crypto friendly countries.
The market would eventually adjust and I doubt there would be such a finite resistance level.

[Wind_FURY]

Is anyone actually upset about Yellen’s “curtail Bitcoin”? Bitcoin is an unstoppable, decentralized, CENSORSHIP-RESISTANT cryptocurrency. I believe we should be “upset”, if Yellen ignored Bitcoin for not being a “real threat” for anything. They are taking notice. Bullish.

[20kevin20]

I highly doubt that the government doesn't like Bitcoin at this point, especially since Chainalysis and all those other blockchain analysis companies are heavily working with 3-letter agencies to basically drop privacy off the chain. I feel like they're now pretending to hate BTC so that they could only push more and more strict anti-privacy regulations in order to take as much control over the data as possible.

Stricter regulations are probably coming soon, and for the average person it might not be a big deal considering a significant part of them have bank accounts or so and are used to giving up their data, but for us, the Bitcoin users which are looking into the tech and not for the money, it's gonna be a burden avoiding these crappy rules..

[so98nn]

Oh yeah and I think they forgot they are in the world of democracy. How could they forget they were elected by the people against whom they are using their power by saying such negative statements?

The decentralised world would be far far stronger than her statement and there is less chance Biden kingdom will see any more stringency in the crypto use.

Have you considered cases where big institutes might have supported their funding? and who knows this funding might have come from bitcoin rich pips? Sure they will keep the portion into politics because they want to turn it into white money.

We can not rule out such possibilities in the first place.

[Mpamaegbu]

Could that speech be the reason Bitcoin is experiencing a dump lately? I guess so.

Regardless of their position on Bitcoin, they do not have the authority to curtail the network, they could declare it illegal and limit exchanges from accepting transactions from certain regions,

China tried it in 2017 but Bitcoin rose from that initial anxiety and uncertainty and hit its ATH in Dec of that same year. Politicians don't seem to learn that Bitcoin is highly decentralized and that no single government can whittle it down. Even the way Bitcoin has performed during this pandemic should be enough pointer for its adoption by various governments. But that isn't the case yet. Well, I am not surprised, anyway, that governments aren't adopting it because Bitcoin tends to expose the inadequacies of fiat and put out middlemen and their corruption.