Biden's controversial anti-cryptocurrency administrator nominee drops out of race

The OCC will operate for a while longer with just one acting comptroller after President Biden's nominee Saule Omarova dropped out of the confirmation process.

In response to Omarova's withdrawal, President Biden said on December 7: "Saule has been inappropriately and personally attacked far beyond what should have been."

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency oversees the regulation of chartered banks across the country. Crypto stakeholders believe that Omarova is a poor choice for the Administrator because of her anti-cryptocurrency sentiments.

Omarova was grilled by Republicans and some Democratic senators about her views on private banking and cryptocurrency regulation during a hearing before the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

Some Republicans, such as Senator John Kennedy, focused on Omarova's Soviet upbringing.

During a Senate hearing on Nov. 18, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis confronted Omarova about her stance on cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. Omarova expressed concern that private tech companies that eventually deploy stablecoin infrastructure will prioritize profit-based private interests over the public need for open banking.

When asked if she thought government-issued fiat currencies were superior to private commerce, Omarova replied:

"I worry about allowing private innovation to undermine a lot of the important public policies that we need to pursue."

Omarova received a Lenin Personal Scholarship to attend Moscow State University in Moscow, Russia, where she wrote a thesis on Karl Marx. In April 2017, the paper appeared on Omarova's resume. Republican Senator Pat Toomey was told the paper had been removed and therefore could not be published.

Republican Sen. Mike Crapo asked Omarova to explain her position on federally chartered banks because of their ties to climate change. She argues that by preventing bank lending, the banking system has the ability to drive out industries that contribute to climate change (what she calls “socially suboptimal industries”).

Her position: "The way we get rid of these carbon financiers is we deprive them of their source of capital."

Given Omarova's exit, President Biden will have to nominate another candidate for Administrator.