Brian Brooks: “not all cryptocurrency projects need to be regulated”

Former OCC director Brian Brooks has expressed his views on cryptocurrency regulation. He believes that not all projects should be under the supervision of regulators.

Brian Brooks, former director of the Office of the Comptroller of the United States Currency (OCC) and former General Counsel for Coinbase, believes that the US government is wrong about regulating the cryptocurrency industry. He drew the analogy of a child selling lemonade to neighbors and being asked to get a medical permit. “This is a strange question:“ Hey, you are doing something. Tell me what rules you follow. ”

Brooks spoke out during a discussion on the institutional adoption of digital assets at the SALT online conference. He referred to his own experience:

“I don’t start with regulation. I start by asking what we are doing here and what aspects should be regulated, ”he said. “And I do not believe that everything that happens in the cryptocurrency world should be subject to the supervision of banking or securities regulators.”

As director of OCC, Brooks took a friendly stance on empowering digital asset companies and emphasized that not brokering could take negligence, fraud and arbitrariness out of the equation.

Under Brooks’ direction, the OCC has published a series of explanatory letters and guidelines. In January, the OCC allowed U.S. banks and federal savings associations to use open blockchains and stablecoins to process payments. Last September, the regulator allowed US banks to hold money to secure stablecoins pegged to a single fiat currency.

Brooks, who served as head of the OCC under US President Donald Trump, blamed Democrats in part for the excessive restrictions on cryptocurrency companies. He pointed to a recent statement by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler to the Senate Banking Committee, in which he argued that “any activity related to securities should be regulated by the SEC.”