Treasury Secretary
A Treasury Secretary is a senior official within the U.S. Department of the Treasury who is responsible for overseeing the department’s activities and managing its resources. The current Treasury Secretary is Janet Yellen, who was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021.
The position of Treasury Secretary was established by Congress under Article II of the Constitution to serve as “the principal officer in the administration of financial and economic affairs.” As such, the role has traditionally been charged with implementing government fiscal policies, promoting economic growth, maintaining national financial stability, regulating banks and other financial institutions, collecting taxes and duties on foreign imports into the United States, managing public debt obligations, supervising currency printing operations (including those related to cryptocurrencies), protecting consumers from fraudulent or deceptive practices in finance-related industries (such as cryptocurrency exchanges), and representing our nation’s interests abroad at international meetings related to economics or finance.
In recent years there have been increasing calls for greater coordination between regulatory agencies relating to cryptocurrencies due to their unique characteristics that make them difficult to regulate using existing laws and frameworks applied elsewhere in traditional markets. It remains unclear what approach will be taken going forward but it seems likely that any future efforts will involve close consultations with both domestic regulators like CFTC/SEC as well as foreign counterparts such as Japan’s FSA when it comes time for implementation decisions regarding cryptocurrency regulations worldwide.
