Biden plans to appoint anti-crypto and big bank critic to lead OCC

United States President Joe Biden aims to nominate Kazakh-American lawyer Saule Omarova for a role as a top Wall Street regulator. She is known for wanting to “end banking as we know it” and has been tapped to run for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Biden taps crypto critic to oversee the banking sector

The Biden administration reportedly plans to nominate Cornell University law professor Saule Omarova to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) that oversees the US banking sector. Omarova has criticized the cryptocurrency and legacy banking sector in the past and has even pledged to “end banking as we know it.”

She further believes that cryptocurrency only benefits the “dysfunctional financial system we already have.” 

Omarova described the digital asset sector as threatening the stability of the economy. According to a Bloomberg report which cited three anonymous sources, the law professor could be nominated as soon as this week.

Omarova, who teaches at Cornell Unversity Law School, specializes in banking law and corporate finance. She is expected to pursue tougher oversight and stricter regulations for crypto as she further believes that the sector is prone to abuse from large private financial institutions. 

If confirmed, she would also be the first woman to serve as comptroller. There would also be a significant shift from the previous administration headed by Brian Brooks, a crypto proponent and former Coinbase legal officer.

Since Brooks resigned from the position in May 2020, Michael Hsu, a former Fed official, has been running the OCC on an interim basis. So far, the Biden administration has struggled to fill the OCC role. 

Omarova may still face a tough confirmation fight as the Democrats have a narrow majority in the Senate. According to Bloomberg, banks that have been big donors to both political parties will potentially lobby aggressively against her candidacy as comptroller. 

The Biden Administration started to vet Omarova for the role in early August, according to the New York Times. She was seen as less controversial than the two previous candidates, Michael S. Barr and Mehrsa Baradaran. 

In line with Omarova’s views is US Securities & Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler, who recently stated that he does not see much long-term viability for digital assets.