- Saule Omarova was nominated to head OCC and it looked bleak for the future of cryptocurrencies as she is an outspoken critic of Bitcoin.
- New reports reveal that some Democratic senators in U.S Congress will reject her, and with all Republicans united against her, she will most likely not assume office.
Saule Omarova, a Bitcoin critic who was nominated for one of the most important financial regulatory jobs in the U.S, is looking unlikely to go through Senate confirmation. According to new reports, some Democratic Senators have rejected the Biden pick, particularly opposing her hardline stance against big banks. With Republican Senators all against her, she looks unlikely to be the next Comptroller of the Currency.
Omarova was nominated by the White House in September to take over from the Acting OCC, Michael Hsu. As CNF reported at the time, the cryptocurrency community joined the banking fraternity to ask questions of what would be of her reign. Omarova is an outspoken critic of the big banks, having consistently criticized government bailouts. She has also suggested that the Federal Reserve should be allowed to serve Americans, effectively wiping out the commercial banks.
For cryptocurrencies, the future looked just as bleak. She has previously stated that she believes they “benefit mainly the dysfunctional financial system we already have.”
In her Senate grilling two weeks ago, she held on to her anti-Bitcoin views. Responding to crypto-friendly Senator Cynthia Lummis‘ question on whether Bitcoin threatens national security, she stated:
I’m not an expert on Bitcoin but I’d worry if all our financial transactions were up to some blockchain system where various actors who might actually be located in other countries, not particularly friendly to us, control the functioning of the system.
Omarova to be rejected
According to reports in Washington, Omarova is set to be rejected in Senate. Already, virtually all Republican senators have said they will reject her. Many of them have even attacked her on personal terms, as well as her ‘socialist-leaning’ beliefs.
Axios reports that five Democratic Senators have joined the anti-Omarova bandwagon as well. The five told Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who heads the Senate Banking Committee of their dissent. If they vote against her, the Kazakhstan-born academic will stand virtually no chance as the house is almost divided in half between Republicans and Democrats.
However, despite the opposition, the White House continues to back her publicly. A White House official told Axios:
The White House continues to strongly support her historic nomination. Saule Omarova is eminently qualified for this position. She has been treated unfairly since her nomination with unacceptable red-baiting from Republicans like it’s the McCarthy era.
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