The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency aka OCC has been making headlines time and again. Thanks to Brian Brooks, the current acting leader of the OCC who was previously serving in the prominent crypto exchange, Coinbase. After being called out by the members of the U.S. Congress for being too inclined towards the crypto industry, Brooks is once again making news after appearing in a recent CNBC interview.
OCC’s Leader Expresses His Worries While BTC Soars
The price of Bitcoin had hit $23K and caught the eyes of the entire globe. While the world was diving into the crypto-verse, Brooks revealed what he was worried about. He pointed out that BTC’s price was soaring in an entourage where the government is on the brink of witnessing a change. He even pointed out that there were “calls on Capitol Hill” to undo the existing regulations that have already been put in place.
The surge in the price of Bitcoin and other assets has initiated the need for better regulations. Elaborating on the same Brooks said,
“My agency has tried to make it safer for people to custody in national banks. We’ve talked about banks supporting some of these stablecoin projects. If those protections aren’t in place, I really worry about the environment for these kinds of things.”
Suggesting that the crypto industry was currently in a “critical inflection point”, Brooks said, “It’s kind of a fork in the road.” He went on to lay out several prospects for the crypto-verse and proposed that they should politicize certain tech issues. He believes that this would give birth to a safer and more real industry. He wanted this for both the crypto and the fintech industry. He further added,
“[…]for example, Chairwoman Maxine Waters’ letter recently suggested, then I’m not sure if we have enough of a foundation to move forward here. So it’s all about consolidating regulatory gains and consumer protections that we’ve tried to put in place.”
Brian Brooks recently took over the position of the Comptroller for the next five years. The latest letter penned by the members of the Congress had put Brooks in a critical light. However, the crypto-verse was overwhelmed after he was appointed by President Trump.