US Senate Narrowly Votes to Appoint a Pro-Crypto OCC Chair

Jonathan Gould, a former BitFury executive and crypto ally, just passed a Senate vote to become the next Chair of the OCC. In this role, he could make national banking policy more crypto-friendly.

President Trump picked Gould for the job months ago, and his confirmation could open new opportunities. However, his role might further centralize authority over crypto, a move which could backfire.

Gould Likely to Become OCC Chair

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a bureau within the US Treasury, is an overlooked but important piece of federal financial regulation.

In recent months, for example, it’s enabled BTC ETF options trading and allowed banks to expand crypto custody services. Today, the Senate voted to confirm Jonathan Gould as the OCC’s next Chair:

Gould has a long career in the industry: before his OCC nomination, he was the Chief Legal Officer at BitFury, a blockchain infrastructure firm.

President Trump handpicked him to head this office several months ago, and his impending confirmation could speed up several outstanding policy issues.

The OCC is primarily responsible for overseeing the US banking sector, which could give Gould a lot of influence over crypto during his five-year term. During his previous time as the OCC’s chief counsel, he was firmly pro-crypto and supported friendly stablecoin regulation.

Now that he’s set to take charge at the OCC, Gould could further promote integration between crypto and banking. One possible action to support this would be declaring stablecoins integral to the financial infrastructure or issuing pro-crypto guidelines.

This is quite an improvement from the systemic debanking campaigns of a few years ago.

Still, there are a few concerns that this strategy might have a significant downside. If Gould moves to make the OCC a pro-crypto tool, it’ll centralize regulatory authority away from state control.

However, if anti-crypto political figures seize the federal apparatus, it would be more difficult for local jurisdictions to continue their supportive policies.

Ultimately, though, it’s difficult to predict long-term political ramifications in this highly unstable moment.