A former top U.S. banking regulator will join Binance, one of the world's largest bitcoin exchanges, the latest move by a cryptocurrency company to deepen ties with Washington.
Brian Brooks, acting administrator of the Comptroller's Office under trump, will be the new CEO of the U.S. subsidiary of overseas cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance Holdings Ltd. Binance.US. Mr Brooks said in an interview that he would start his new job on May 1. A spokeswoman for the cryptocurrency exchange confirmed the offer.
During his tenure at the OCC, Mr. Brooks was dubbed "CryptoComptroller" on social media because of his friendly approach to digital currencies. Under his supervision, the OCC issued guidance clarifying that banks can provide cryptocurrency custody services and use stablecoins to facilitate payment activities, initiatives that help make it easier for traditional financial institutions to enter the cryptocurrency space. A stablecoin is a digital coin that is supported by a traditional currency such as a commodity or the US dollar.
Mr Brooks served as Acting Director of the OCC under the Treasury Department from May to January 2020. Prior to joining OCC, he was the chief legal officer of Coinbase Global Inc., a U.S. bitcoin exchange. He also previously served as general counsel to mortgage giant Fannie Mae.
In recent months, as cryptocurrency firms have increasingly sought mainstream acceptance, they have hired some former officials. Such hiring could help companies like Binance and Coinbase navigate potential pitfalls in the emerging digital currency regulatory framework in the United States. But they also stand in stark contrast to the early libertarian vision of Bitcoin, a way of transacting outside the confines of government.
Last month, Coinbase said it was hiring Brett Redfearn, the former top regulator of the securities and exchange commission, as vice president. Also in March, Binance said it was hiring Max Baucus, a former Democratic senator from Montana and the U.S. ambassador to China, as policy and government relations adviser.
This month, Coinbase, along with several other financial firms, founded the Crypto Council for Innovation, a trading group that aims to lobby policymakers on cryptocurrency regulation. The group's first move was to release a paper by Michael Morrell, a former acting director of the CIA, arguing that the media and government officials had greatly exaggerated bitcoin's role in illicit finance.
After a massive rise in the digital currency market, cryptocurrency companies are cash-rich. Since the beginning of the year, Bitcoin has nearly doubled to around $55,000. Coinbase was listed on the NASDAQ stock market last week with a market capitalization of $87 billion. According to data provider CryptoCompare, Binance operates the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of volume, executing tens of billions of dollars in transactions every day. Binance was founded in 2017, initially in China. Later it moved its offices to Japan and Malta, and now says it is a decentralized organization with no headquarters.
