The heads of the two major regulatory agencies are all "his own people". A new era of encrypted supervision has begun?

Author: 1912212.eth, Foresight News

Since Trump officially entered the White House, favorable policies have frequently appeared. Recently, Trump has nominated former Bitfury Chief Legal Officer Jonathan Gould as the director of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), responsible for overseeing the national banking system. The nomination was submitted to the Senate on February 11 and serves a term of five years.

In addition, he nominated Brian Quintenz, head of policy at a16z, as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The influence of the US Currency Complaint cannot be underestimated. It is one of the most influential banking regulators in the United States. OCC-regulated banks control most of the U.S. banking industry, including major banks such as Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America. Due to the core position of the U.S. banking system in the global financial market, OCC policies will affect international interbank transactions, dollar clearing system, and global financial stability. In recent years, OCC has allowed national banks to provide crypto custody services and explored the integration of stablecoins and banking systems, which has a far-reaching impact on the compliance development of the crypto industry.

Kristin Smith, CEO of Blockchain Association, a crypto industry advocacy group, issued a statement saying Gould is an excellent candidate to serve as the U.S. Office of the Regulatory Commissioner, whose experience in the crypto industry allows him to effectively lead the agency. Lectric Capital co-founder Avichal Garg also said Gould's nomination is a very positive development for fintech and cryptocurrency founders looking for better financial services.

So who is Gould, who can get such a high evaluation?

Brilliant resume of encryption, law, and financial asset management

Gould graduated from Princeton University and then received his Ph.D. in juris. He served as senior deputy director and chief legal counsel for the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) during the first term of the Trump administration (end of 2018 to mid-2021). According to data, during his tenure at OCC, Jonathan led the legal and licensing team through a period of major change that drove the agency to update its regulatory and licensing framework to adapt to the evolution of the banking industry. These reforms include major revisions to bank regulations and involve the implementation of the Economic Growth Law. Under his leadership, OCC approved the licensing of financial technology and cryptocurrency banks for the first time, confirming the legality of crypto-related businesses, etc.

In 2022, Gould served as Bitfury's chief legal officer, who produced Bitcoin mining equipment, which was valued at $1 billion a few years ago. Gould is now a partner at the law firm Jones Day.

He also served as a director at BlackRock from 2014 to 2018, one of the world's largest asset management companies, currently managed assets (AUM) of more than US$10 trillion, in global finance The market plays an important role.

Gould is proficient in law and has worked in Bitcoin mining company and asset management giant BlackRock. He has good experience in crypto, finance and law. If he is officially appointed, crypto may face loose regulatory ease. Gould recently opposed Chokepoint 2.0 (cutting crypto-banking from banks) and hopes to provide fair banking access to crypto companies.

CFTC nominated chairman from the policy leader of venture capital a16z

Recently, Trump also nominated Brian Quintenz, head of policy, as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Since the former chairman of the CFTC resigned, Caroline Pham, currently nominated by Trump, is currently acting chairman. Earlier this year, the Trump team interviewed several candidates, including CFTC Commissioner Summer Mersinger, former Kraken Chief Legal Officer Marco Santori, and others, but ultimately chose Brian Quintenz.

The main function of CFTC is to regulate the US derivatives market, especially futures, options and other derivative transactions. This derivative includes futures and option contracts related to commodities, stocks, bonds, foreign exchange, etc., and is also the most important regulation involved in the cryptocurrency field. One of the departments.

Brian Quintenz is a Duke University graduate who worked in the office of Rep. Deborah Pryce from 2001 to 2007 as a senior policy consultant. In 2013, he founded Saeculum Capital Management, focusing on risk management and technical analysis investment strategy investment.

In August 2017, Brian was nominated as a CFTC commissioner by Trump and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in the same month to begin his tenure. During his tenure, he led the CFTC’s Technical Advisory Committee and chaired open policy discussions and briefings on cryptocurrencies. He also supports the development of tailored risk adjustment regulatory policies for emerging areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi).

In September 2021, Brian joined Andreessen Horowitz as policy director in the crypto division.

Brian recently wrote during his tenure at a16z that “when it comes to regulation, it can finally be relaxed.” For many people, due to concerns about over-regulation, the project party has been delaying the use of tokens to allocate control and establish projects. Community. Now we should be more confident in the use of tokens as a legal and compliant tool for projects.

It is worth mentioning that after being nominated as the next CFTC chairman, Brian tweeted that CFTC plays a key role in market price discovery. The agency is also ready to ensure that the United States is a world leader in blockchain technology and innovation. I look forward to working with President Trump’s financial regulatory team. "

In the past supervision of the crypto industry, both the SEC and CFTC have participated in law enforcement actions. In addition, the two have become disputes over whether some tokens are securities. Recently, Forbes Business reporter Eleanor Terrett disclosed that as digital asset supervision becomes a key task, the US SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are discussing strengthening cooperation in cryptocurrency regulation and considering restarting the SEC-CFTC Joint Advisory Committee, which has been shut down since 2014. , providing a platform for discussion for the two institutions on emerging regulatory issues.

summary

At present, Trump is practicing his consistent friendly attitude towards the crypto industry before entering the White House, with many senior government officials and regulatory officials all pro-crypto people. The crypto industry has always been severely regulated and suppressed in the past may disappear, and a group of American blockchain entrepreneurs may usher in an era of the loosest policies.