U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has given her opinions on the potential of a digital dollar but is hesitant to come to any conclusions at this stage in proceedings. Yellen said on Thursday that she had not formed a view on whether the Federal Reserve should create a digital version of the dollar, but such a move would require broad consensus among Congress, the U.S. central bank and the White House.

This follows the recent reports that the Federal Reserve is currently researching whether an electronic version of the greenback would be beneficial. Yellen said that she sees both pros and cons to the digital dollar. Although she does have thoughts on its implementation, she feels more research needs to be done before coming up with any definite answers.

According to Yellen, the advantages of a central bank digital currency need further study, including its effects on banking institutions.

In contrast, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard, whom President Biden has chosen for vice-chair of the US central bank, has called for urgency in establishing a digital dollar. She suggested that she can’t fathom not having one when China and other nations are developing their own central bank digital currencies, which she considers a race to the top…read more.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that cryptocurrency markets need stronger regulations to protect against technological manipulation by Russia, China and others.

Her comments on cryptocurrency were part of a larger segment in a Wednesday interview with MSNBC TV news host Rachel Maddow on the manipulation of social media platforms by certain nations.

Clinton’s warning extended to “technology of all kinds,” which she said states and non-state entities could use to destabilize countries and the dollar as the reserve currency of the world. She said, “There’s one other thing that’s on the horizon, which people are only beginning to pay attention to, and that’s the need to regulate the cryptocurrency market.”

“Imagine the combination of social media, the amassing of even larger sums of money through the control of certain cryptocurrency chains,” she said…read more.

The Lord of the Rings-themed “JRR Token” has met a “bag end” after being forced to close up shop following legal action from the family and estate of the famed series’ author. J.R.R. Tolkien, who died in 1973.

On Tuesday, Law360 reported that the Tolkien Estate had reached a settlement with Florida-based developer Matthew Jensen over his JRR Token, which was launched in August this year. According to BSCScan, the BEP-20 token is only held by 510 addresses, with a market supply of 19 trillion.

According to the settlement, Jensen promised to shut down the token and delete any content that infringes the estate’s trademark rights to the J.R.R. Tolkien name and intellectual property relating to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. He also agreed to pay the estate’s legal costs, which were undisclosed.

The JRR Token’s Twitter account, YouTube channel and website have since been deleted.

The estate’s lawyer, Steve Maier, described the case as a “particularly flagrant case of infringement,” adding that the estate is “pleased that it has been concluded on satisfactory terms.”

This comes after the estate successfully recovered the website domain name “jrrtoken.com” after filing a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Aug. 10 — only four days after Billy Boyd, the actor who played Pippin, endorsed the token in a 40-second YouTube cameo on Aug. 4…read more.