Today Fed Chair Janet Yellen responded to a letter that was sent to her from Senator Joe Manchin, in which he called for a ban on the online currency Bitcoin. Manchineel highlighted that the currency could be used by criminals and could disrupt the economy. Yellen responded "Bitcoin is a payment innovation that's taking place outside the banking industry. To the best of my knowledge there's no intersection at all, in any way, between Bitcoin and banks that the Federal Reserve has the ability to supervise and regulate. So the fed doesn't have authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in anyway." She also said "The Fed doesn't have authority with respect to Bitcoin," she responded. "But certainly it would be appropriate for Congress to ask questions about what the right legal structure would be for digital currencies...My understanding is Bitcoin doesn't touch U.S. banks"