Remarks from Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen on Digital Assets

Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen delivered remarks on digital assets policy, innovation, and regulation at American University's (DC) Kogod School of Business Center for Innovation. "A few weeks ago, President Biden signed an Executive Order calling for a coordinated and comprehensive government approach to digital asset policy," Yellen said. "Digital assets have grown explosively, reaching a market cap of $3 trillion last November from $14 billion just five years prior. Digital assets may be relatively new, but they are part of a larger trend – the digitization of finance – that has been in the making for decades. In 1990, there were fewer than 3 million internet users. Now, there are about 4.5 billion, and we take for granted that many aspects of our financial lives can be managed from small internet-connected devices that fit into the palms of our hands. This growth in digital services has opened a world of possibilities and risks that would have seemed fantastical only a few decades ago. Financial services – along with most industries – have evolved in response to exponential advances in computing power and connectivity."