issues that merit authorities ’ attention ( pdf ), june 27, 2017. 2 see david mills, kathy wang, brendan malone, anjana ravi, jeff marquardt, clinton chen, anton badev, timothy brezinski, linda fahy, kimberley liao, vanessa kargenian, max ellithorpe, wendy ng, and maria baird, “ distributed ledger technology in payments, clearing, and settlement ( pdf ), ” finance and economics discussion series 2016 – 095 ( washington : board of governors of the federal reserve system, 2016 ). 3 for example, the commodity futures trading commission published a statement on digital currencies making clear that many fall into the category of commodities under the commodity exchange act ( www. cftc. gov / pressroom / pressreleases / pr7231 – 15 ). the securities and exchange commission has published guidance on the treatment of digital currencies under the securities exchange act ( www. sec. gov / news / press - release / 2017 – 131 ). the internal revenue service has published guidance on the tax treatment of digital currencies ( www. irs. gov / pub / irs - drop / n - 14 – 21. pdf ). and the financial crimes enforcement network has published guidance on the treatment of digital currencies under the bank secrecy act ( www. fincen. gov / resources / statutes - regulations / guidance / application - fincens - regulations - personsadministering ). 4 see jerome h. powell, “ financial innovation : a world in transition ” ( speech delivered at the 41st annual central banking seminar, sponsored by the federal reserve bank of new york, new york, october 18, 2017 ). 5 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches

ben s bernanke : semiannual monetary policy report to the congress testimony by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, before the committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs, us senate, washington, dc, 19 july 2006. * * * mr. chairman and members of the committee, i am pleased to be here again to present the federal reserve's monetary policy report to the congress. over the period since our february report, the u. s. economy has continued to expand. real gross domestic product ( gdp ) is estimated to have risen at an annual rate of 5. 6 percent in the first quarter of 2006. the available indicators suggest that economic growth has more recently moderated from that quite strong pace, reflecting a gradual cooling of the housing market and other factors that i will discuss. with respect to the labor market, more than 850, 000 jobs were added, on net, to nonfarm payrolls over the first six months of the year, though these gains came at a slower pace in the second quarter than in the first. last month the unemployment rate stood at 4. 6 percent. inflation has been higher than we had anticipated in february, partly as a result of further sharp increases in the prices of energy and other commodities. during the first five months of the year, overall inflation as measured by the price index for personal consumption expenditures averaged 4. 3 percent at an annual rate. over the same period, core inflation - that is, inflation excluding food and energy prices - averaged 2. 6 percent at an annual rate. to address the risk that inflation pressures might remain elevated, the federal open market committee ( fomc ) continued to firm the stance of monetary policy, raising the federal funds rate another 3 / 4 percentage point, to 5 - 1 / 4 percent, in the period since our last report. let me now review the current economic situation and the outlook in a bit more detail, beginning with developments in the real economy and then turning to the inflation situation. i will conclude with some comments on monetary policy. the u. s. economy appears to be in a period of transition. for the past three years or so, economic growth in the united states has been robust. this growth has reflected both the ongoing reemployment of underutilized resources, as the economy recovered from the weakness of earlier in the decade, and the expansion of the economy's underlying productive potential,