Yellen urges US to move quickly to stablecoin rules

WASHINGTON, July 19 (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told regulators on Monday that the U.S. government must act quickly to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins, a rapidly growing class of digital currencies.

A group of U.S. regulators plan to issue recommendations in the coming months to address regulatory loopholes around stablecoins, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Monday’s meeting of the President’s Financial Markets Task Force, which brings together leading financial observers, highlights how quickly policymakers are working to ensure their rules can keep up with rapid technological changes in digital currencies.

The group discussed the rapid growth of stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies that attempt to peg their value to a conventional currency, such as the U.S. dollar, according to the Treasury. Regulators discussed their potential uses, as well as the risks to end users and the financial system.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers during congressional hearings last week that stablecoins “are growing incredibly fast,” but highlighted their lack of proper regulation as a concern. Read more

Reporting by Pete Schroeder; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

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