Share this article
Former Fed Chair Janet Yellen Is Now a Bitcoin Owner
A member of the crypto community has gifted former Fed chair Janet Yellen some bitcoin in response to her negative comments on the cryptocurrency.
By Nikhilesh De
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 8:32 a.m. Published Oct 31, 2018, 6:00 p.m.
She may not be "fan" of bitcoin," but former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen now has a small amount of BTC in her possession.
On Monday, Yellen explained why she believes bitcoin is not a useful form of currency during an appearance at the Canada Fintech Forum. The former chairperson of the U.S. central bank has struck critical tones in the past toward cryptocurrency, but elsewhere had said she views blockchain as an "important technology."
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
A day later, according to an email obtained by CoinDesk, Raz Suprovici, the founder of bitcoin gifting service Biterica, sent Yellen 0.0031642 BTC – or roughly $20 – by way of her University of California Berkeley e-mail address.
When contacted to confirm the gift, Yellen said that she had received it but hasn't gone far in investigating her newly-obtained coins.
"I did receive a gift of bitcoins this morning and have been very busy ever since so I've not looked into it further," she wrote. Yellen further said that she did not have anything to add to her previous remarks about bitcoin this week.
Suprovici told CoinDesk that he wanted to help Yellen learn more about bitcoin, seeing the gift as the best avenue for that to occur.
"Based on the way she spoke about it at the conference, it seemed that she had never owned any bitcoin," he said, adding:
"People are afraid of the unknown. I was hoping that when she logged into her bitcoin wallet with her ID and password, she would see it's just like a typical online bank account. The money she owns is there, in her control, ready to spend ... I hope that this sparks her openness to the technology."
"Maybe all policy-makers should be gifted a little bit of bitcoin," he added.
Janet Yellen image via Federalreserve / Wikimedia Commons
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Coinbase Sees Crypto Recovery Ahead as Liquidity Improves and Fed Rate Cut Odds Climb
The crypto exchange also took note of a so-called AI bubble that continues to go strong and a weaker U.S. dollar.
What to know:
- Coinbase Institutional is seeing a potential December recovery in crypto, citing improving liquidity and a shift in macroeconomic conditions that could favor risk assets like bitcoin.
- The firm's optimism is driven by rising odds of Federal Reserve rate cuts, with markets pricing in a 93% chance easing next week, and improving liquidity conditions.
- Several recent institutional developments, including Vanguard's crypto ETF policy reversal and Bank of America's greenlighting of crypto allocations, have contributed to bitcoin's rebound from recent lows.
Top Stories
