President Joe Biden’s candidate for Comptroller of the Currency, Saule Omarova, is said to have been rejected by a group of five Democratic senators (OCC)
Omarova nomination opposed in hearing
According to Axios, three members of the Senate Banking Committee — Senators Jon Tester, Mark Warner, and Kyrsten Sinema — initially rejected Omarova’s nomination as a bank regulator during a phone discussion with panel chairman Sen. Sherrod Brown. Senators John Hickenlooper and Mark Kelly also joined the opposition.
Omarova, who formerly served as Special Advisor for Regulatory Policy to the Under Secretary of Domestic Finance, is well-known for her anti-crypto opinions. Because of the opposition from five Democrats and all Republicans, the White House nominee requires every other Democratic candidate to vote in favor of her appointment.
On November 18, senators questioned Omarova about her nomination, including Senator John Ossoff of Georgia, who had particular questions for Omarova about cryptocurrency. Her remarks acknowledged some of the benefits that bitcoin brings to financial markets, but she emphasized the potential for cryptocurrencies to weaken the US dollar, which the Comptroller of the Currency is responsible for overseeing.
One of two things will happen next. Either the Biden administration convinces the Democratic senators who oppose Omarova’s candidacy to alter their minds, or the administration chooses a different nominee for Senate confirmation.
Senator Pat Toomey pressed Omarova about her missing Marxism thesis in October, and the acting Comptroller of the Currency, Michael J. Hsu, singled out Tether and Binance as hazardous blockchain participants in early November.
Senator Hickenlooper’s Denver office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Cointelegraph.
Sherrod Brown, the chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, increased the regulatory pressure by issuing notifications requiring crypto companies to submit information about consumer and investor protection on stablecoins.
According to Cointelegraph, Brown’s notification was sent to Coinbase, Gemini, Paxos, TrustToken, Binance.US, Circle, Centre, and Tether, who must now provide the needed information by December 3. Stablecoin purchasing, swapping, and minting information will need to be shared among crypto firms.
Furthermore, corporations are asked to disclose the number of tokens in circulation as well as how frequently customers swap them for US dollars. Investors “may not comprehend the intricacy and various features and terms of each stablecoin,” according to the senator. The letter states that:
“I have significant concerns with the non-standardized terms applicable to redemption of particular stablecoins, how those terms differ from traditional assets and how those terms may not be consistent across digital asset trading platforms.”
