US Fed vice chair Michael Barr favors hard line on crypto, OCC acting head no friendlier
Two United States government financial officials gave speeches on Sept. 7 in which they expressed their positions on crypto regulation. Both had reservations about crypto.
Michael Barr, who was recently appointed United States Federal Reserve Board vice chair for supervision, made his first speech in his new capacity at the Brookings Institute. Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu, reiterated his feelings about crypto at the annual conference of The Clearing House and Bank Policy Institute.
Barr spoke about “some of my near-term goals and how I will approach achieving them.” He mentioned crypto in two contexts. First, he cited historical examples of private money destabilizing the economy and called for action to regulate stablecoin. Barr said:
Barr went on to address crypto assets in general, and said he intended to protect both the banking system and bank customers, noting, “As we have seen with the growth of crypto assets, in a rapidly rising and volatile market, participants may come to believe that they understand new products only to learn that they don't.” He continued:
Hsu had spoken at the same conference last year and revived his topic, “Safeguarding Trust in Banking,” from last year. He said that, when he was appointed to his position:
That approach was reflected in the OCC’s Interpretive Letter 1179, which was issued last November. That letter stated that activities with crypto are permissible for banks “provided the bank can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of its supervisory office, that it has controls in place to conduct the activity in a safe and sound manner.”
Related: Acting OCC comptroller calls for standards on stablecoins
Hsu mentioned stablecoins and the collapse of Terra as an example of
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