Trump Nominates Acting FDIC Chair to Officially Head the Agency

US President Donald Trump sent the nomination of acting chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Travis Hill, to the Senate for consideration to assume the government role for a five-year term.

According to congressional records, Trump’s nomination of Travis as FDIC chair was sent to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.

Before assuming his role at the FDIC, Hill issued a statement that the department should offer additional guidance on digital assets and tokenization and spoke out against allegations of US authorities debanking companies due to their ties to crypto. He followed with a letter aimed at financial institutions in March, clarifying that banks could engage with digital assets as a ”permissible activity.” 

Related: FDIC moves to eradicate ‘reputational risk’ category from bank exams

“I expect this to be one of several steps the FDIC will take to lay out a new approach for how banks can engage in crypto- and blockchain-related activities in accordance with safety and soundness standards,” said Hill in March.

Martin Gruenberg, the previous Senate-confirmed FDIC chair, resigned in January as part of the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden.

US President hasn’t filled seats at key financial regulators

Though Trump has announced several nominations potentially impacting US crypto policy, including Hill, he has yet to choose a replacement pick for prospective Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chair Brian Quintenz or other commissioners to fill the agency’s five-seat leadership panel. A Democratic commissioner’s seat at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also been vacant since January.

It’s unclear when the Senate Banking Committee will schedule hearings to consider Hill’s nomination, given that the US government is currently shut down after Congress failed to pass a funding bill this week. At the time of publication, there was no deal in place between Democratic and Republican lawmakers to halt the shutdown, expected by many to last until at least next week.

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