According to the Wall Street Journal report, U.S. President Joe Biden is likely to pick a former member of Ripple’s board of advisors directors to become the next Comptroller of the Currency. The report cites insiders “familiar with the matter” who expect President Biden to nominate former Treasury Department official, Michael Barr, to the top post overseeing national banks. The position as Comptroller of the Currency serves as the federal banking system administrator and is the chief officer of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
The official decision is yet to be finalized.
The position of Comptroller of the Currency is considered as one of the most powerful banking regulators. “The comptroller oversees hundreds of bank supervisors stationed inside large U.S. financial firms, making the person in the job one of the most powerful bank regulators,” the report mentioned. However, the official decision is yet to be finalized as the report did not verify the story with comments from the White House, the Treasury Department, or Barr himself. If picked, Michael Barr would be the second appointee with cryptocurrency experience following former Coinbase executive Brian Brooks. The latter stepped down last week after eight months as the Trump administration’s acting Comptroller.
Biden administration picks Gary Gensler as the most likely candidate to head the SEC.
Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States earlier today as Donald Trump left the White House after serving four years. The new administration has tapped crypto-knowledgable Gary Gensler as the most likely candidate to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s former Chairman is known to be more positive towards decentralization and financial digitization than the previous inhabitant in the role.
