President Trump today “announced his intent to nominate” Brian Brooks to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
Brooks, Coinbase’s former Chief Legal Officer, has been serving as acting comptroller since May 29 of this year after Joseph Otting resigned.
If the nomination process is successful—it must be approved by the US Senate—Brooks would serve a five-year term.
Unsurprisingly given his cryptocurrency pedigree, Brooks has brought a greater focus on cryptocurrency assets and services to the OCC, a treasury office that oversees national banks and federal savings associations.
The OCC will likely play a key role in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption moving forward. Indeed it already has—in July, under Brooks’ leadership, it said banks could take custody of crypto assets. However, that focus has rubbed some Democratic representatives the wrong way, coming as it does in the midst of a global pandemic.