bidens executive order was not about regulating crypto. it was an order asking different departments to investigate and make a report about things that need to be learned about crypto.. which might translate later into some regulation.. but thats going to be a separate process

possible things that could come of this:(based on other countries reactions)
a. residential mining(hobby mining) may be outlawed/restricted
    to ensure neighbourhood substation circuit dont circuit break causing localised brown/blackouts

b. incentivising states/counties that have renewable energy to allow asic farms to set up
    so that mining farms can buy allotments of the 'excess'/'surplus' capacity to then re-invest into expanding
    more renewable power plants, and also not cause an influx of mining farms in fossil fuel power regions

c. undo certain over regulations. EG 'bitlicence' in NYC
    but may require having a different 'licence' regulation instead

d. regulate businesses that wish to act as custodians/payment facilitators/brokers.
    no this does not mean software devs or miners. its about exchanges/LN routers/shopping cart processors

those are best case scenarios.

She seems to have softened already.  They already know about the benefits a long time ago, they were just delaying where all these are going because even countries today are already accepting BTC. Still waiting for what they would do to regulate crypto but I think some of what @franky1 is saying could happen. Still, there will be massive events that will happen in crypto and even in the stock market.

I think pretty much the same. For starters, I don't trust Yellen or anyone else who has held as many positions of power for as long as she has. I think if she makes those statements it is because it suits her in some way, and surely, as you say, they are putting into practice the, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

As I have said in other threads, in the beginning the reaction of governments against Bitcoin was negative, but now they have realized that they can't stop it. What they have done, then, is to pass legislation to control it to some extent.

According to statista, as of today 15% of Americans own cryptocurrency. And the trend is growing. Although I would take this kind of statistics with a grain of salt, I think it is true that a significant portion of growing own crypto voters and the policies regarding it will influence their vote.

Follow her words closely.

"it is now playing an important role, not so much in transactions, but in the investment decisions of many Americans."

Investment decisions of many Americans.  To me it seems she likes that Americans are starting to choose digital over physical way more than they used to.  It is a great thing to governments, considering they want cash to be gone and CBDC's to be a thing.  This move towards digital assets is a perfect thing for their plans to control and monitor everyone's finances.  Combined with the prominent use of cards rather than cash during the last two years, it is their wet dream coming true.

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Regards,
PrivacyG

she says that, but then we have news articles like this one: "Most who know about cryptocurrency see it as a risky investment"

How much have you heard the government undoing regulations? You think the far left wing of American politicians are capable of deregulation? Biden's executive order is exactly what people fear it is, the pathway down the road of strict regulation and high taxes in order to discourage usage. They don't want anything to compete with USD and they sure wouldn't mind the extra tax revenue. Most politicians don't understand anything about Bitcoin beyond the surface level "digital currency" notions.

I don't see what investing in cryptocurrencies has to do with the emergence of CBDC, which is actually just a digitized fiat, which actually already exists in the sense that many use only cards for most of their payments. Even at this point, the control of ordinary people's finances is at a high level, but when one day CBDC is the only option, then it will be complete control - even if someone buys Bitcoin through DEX, a trace of digital money can be traced.

However, I think that there will be a transition period when CBDC and cash will exist at the same time, and even in the EU they said that the amount of CBDC (digital euro) that an individual will be able to have will be limited. I also think that they (governments) are aware that even more reducing privacy will make even more people look for alternatives - which may be a good opportunity for cryptocurrencies.

I agree with you mate, I bet they already realized the benefits of cryptocurrencies a long time ago but the only thing that didn't pushed them to adopt is that they don't have the power to control it because cryptocurrency is a decentralised platform. I am still optimistic that the world especially those richest countries will going to adopt crypto but as of now only small time countries used to adopt it. I don't have specific time speculation for that but hopefully one day will come.

Considering the situation right now I do think that it's really important to understand that without bitcoins they would be in a huge problem considering how many people are now investing in Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies with the uncertainty in the prices and also with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with them threatening about the nuclear war and WW3 would be right around the corner if not. Therefore I do think that recognising bitcoins is the only option that they got also with the Russia also into bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies it would be wise to make sure they don't they and dominate the Bitcoin market since it can be disastrous for the long run.