Entire Crypto Market Is Up 6% Today After Positive Remarks From Janet Yellen

All top-20 coins are trending higher at time of writing, as total crypto market cap pushes past $2.14 trillion.

On Friday, during an interview with CNBC, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged the benefits and promise of payment innovation from cryptocurrencies.

"Crypto has obviously grown by leaps and bounds, and is now playing a significant role not really so much in transactions but in investment decisions of lots of Americans…There are benefits from crypto, and we recognize the innovation in the payment system can be a healthy thing," Yellen said in the interview.

These comments are the latest positive remarks from the Secretary who had positive statements about crypto earlier this month as well. This new trending narrative out of the Treasury Department is a complete reversal from past comments Yellen made in February 2021, when she claimed Bitcoin was speculative, often used by criminals, and a massive energy drain.

She went on to say in Friday's interview that the Treasury plans to make common sense regulatory recommendations that address consumer and investor protections, reduce criminal use of crypto, and maintain stability of financial markets without stifling innovation.

Crypto markets pop following Yellen's comments

While it's difficult to show a direct causal connection, the correlative rise in the broader crypto market following Yellen's remarks is clear. Over the weekend, the crypto industry began a climb that continued this morning. All the top-20 cryptocurrencies are trading higher this morning while writing -- many individual projects are up double digits -- as the broader crypto space tops a $2.14 trillion market capitalization, marking a 6.21% increase over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.