Ripple ex-advisor Michael Barr may head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) under the Joe Biden presidency.
If appointed, Barr will replace Brian Brooks, a previous chief lawyer at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, who worked as head of the OCC from May 2020 to January 2021.
At present, Barr is Dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Previously, he served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Barack Obama presidency and was involved in drafting the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.
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The OCC is an independent division of the US Treasury Department and regulates all domestic banks as well as branches of foreign banks.
Barr entered Ripple's advisory board in 2015. It is unknown when he left the company. Late last year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple. The company and two of its executives - CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen - are accused of raising $ 1.3 billion through the sale of unregistered securities in the form of XRP tokens.
Garlinghouse previously stated that the company is ready to partner with new representatives of US regulators "to pave the way for the development of blockchain and crypto-innovation in the country."