Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen encouraged her fellow central bankers to accelerate their studies of new financial technologies, specifically mentioning bitcoin, the blockchain, and other distributed ledgers, according to the trade group whose conference she attended.

The June 1 event in Washington, attended by representatives from more than 90 central banks, was closed to the press. The Chamber of Digital Commerce, which organized the conference, summarized her remarks in a press release Monday.

"The fact that the words bitcoin and blockchain were spoken by chairwoman Yellen in a positive context highlights the importance of emerging financial technology," said Perianne Boring, president of the Chamber.

The Fed declined to comment.

A conference agenda listed several speakers from Fed including Yellen, as well as representatives from Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq and the International Monetary Fund.

