Bulletins

Elizabeth Warren urges Yellen to lead crypto regulatory push

Elizabeth Warren
Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is urging Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to take the lead in the push to regulate cryptocurrencies, which she said pose a serious danger to the financial system.

Warren wants the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which is led by Yellen, to take "a leading role" in developing a regulatory response to the crypto and blockchain industry, amid varied, uncoordinated responses from different federal agencies.

"It is essential that the policy response to the risks posed by these assets is coordinated and holistic, rather than fragmented amongst individual financial agencies," Warren said in a July 26 letter.

The FSOC, which was created in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, is composed of key federal agencies focused on the financial and economic issues, including the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The treasury secretary serves as the council's chairperson.

Warren, an outspoken critic of the crypto and blockchain industries, warned: "The longer that the United States waits to adapt the proper regulatory regime for these assets, the more likely they will become so intertwined in our financial system that there could be potentially serious consequences if this market comes under stress."

Benjamin Pimentel

Benjamin Pimentel ( @benpimentel) covers crypto and fintech from San Francisco. He has reported on many of the biggest tech stories over the past 20 years for the San Francisco Chronicle, Dow Jones MarketWatch and Business Insider, from the dot-com crash, the rise of cloud computing, social networking and AI to the impact of the Great Recession and the COVID crisis on Silicon Valley and beyond. He can be reached at bpimentel@protocol.com or via Google Voice at (925) 307-9342.

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Bulletins