Michael Barr, a law professor, is being nominated for the position of vice-chair for supervision at the Federal Reserve.
According to an announcement by The White House, Michael Barr, a former Ripple advisor, has been named President Biden’s choice for the role of vice-chair for supervision at the Federal Reserve.
Barr, who was created as part of Dodd-Frank Act 2010, would be responsible to develop policy recommendations for the Fed’s board regarding supervision and regulation.
Given Barr’s connections to the industry, the move has attracted both crypto enthusiasts and naysayers.
After having served as an advisor to President Bill Clinton, Barr joined Ripple’s advisory board in 2015. Prior to that, he was the assistant secretary for financial institution under President Barack Obama.
Barr stated that he was excited to join the Advisory Board of Ripple Labs in a 2015 press release. “Our global payment system is severely outdated. Innovation in payments could make the financial system more secure, less expensive, and easier to access for both consumers and businesses.
Ripple Labs launched XRP in 2012. According to CoinMarketCap, it’s the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capital with $37.5 billion.
Barr’s nomination news made XRP rise 7% Friday morning. It was also one of the top 10 coins that has not been in the red for the past 24 hours.
Barr’s connections to Ripple and Lending Club
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple in 2020 for $1.3 billion raised by XRP sales in ” unregistered securities offerings”. In December 2021, the SEC initiated legal proceedings against Ripple.
The judge who ruled in favor of the SEC’s lawsuit said earlier this week that the regulator would have to release internal emails that contain evidence of conflict of interest.
Emails obtained by Empower Oversight show that a former SEC official was repeatedly told not to meet Simpson Thatcher, who is a member of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance.
Barr was also an advisor at LendingClub after Ripple.
In a 2013 press release, he stated that “Lending Club’s platform was very innovative and user-friendly.” The platform provides borrowers with a fixed interest rate as well as fully amortizing loans to help them pay down their monthly debts.
His 30-page curriculum vitae does not include any crypto advisory positions. It also includes six other law clerk positions that he held during the 1990s.
Barr has been mentioned for several positions in the Biden administration before. Barr was also reported to be as he replaced Brian Brooks in the role of Comptroller for the Currency.
