Thus far, the Federal Reserve has had a hands-off approach to bitcoin, regularly citing its lack of jurisdiction over currency-like commodities and non-state backed currencies. But that doesn’t mean the Fed isn’t paying attention to bitcoin’s rapidly growing impact on domestic and global finance. At a meeting of the Fed’s Federal Advisory Council (FAC), the […]

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis hosted a talk by David Andolfatto titled “Bitcoin and Beyond: The Possibilities and the Pitfalls of Virtual Currencies.” In addition to his role as Vice President of the bank, Andolfatto is a professor at Simon Fraser University. One of the key perspectives in the presentation was the […]

“The Fed doesn’t have authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in any way,” Federal reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen said today. Speaking to the Senate Banking Committee, Yellen was asked about the virtual currency by Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who called yesterday for a Federal ban on Bitcoin. While she noted at the Fed was “looking […]