OCC’s New Chief Cashed Out Millions In Coinbase Stocks Before Joining The Govt.

Brian Brooks, the interim head of the United States’ Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), who was previously part of Coinbase’s legal team had reportedly cashed out $4.6 million in stock just before transitioning into the OCC.

Acting Comptroller Liquidates Coinbase Stocks worth $4.6 million 

Recently, one of the United States’ financial watchdog, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) made headlines after its latest set of proposals. The OCC had requested the public for comments as well as feedbacks in order to formulate regulations for cryptocurrencies. Many from the community have been speculating that the Acting Comptroller of the OCC, Brian Brooks could have kindled the platform’s latest move considering his history in the crypto industry.

Brooks served as the Chief Legal Officer at prominent cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase before bagging his position at OCC. On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Brooks had cashed about $4.6 million in Coinbase Inc. stock options during his switch from Coinbase to OCC. While he joined the OCC as the deputy comptroller in March, he was promoted to the role of Acting comptroller recently in May 2020 after Joseph Otting resigned from his position as the comptroller of OCC.

In a recent interview, Brooks commented about his ambitions for OCC and said,

“I think we can charter a number of institutions, some of whom are current applicants that have their roots in technology. We need a national financial system, and the OCC’s the platform for doing that.”

Brooks’ financial details that have been filed with the government suggests that Brooks has been earning below $300,000 per annum at OCC. However, during his time at Coinbase which was 1.7 years, he earned up to $1.4 million in salary. The acting comptroller also worked Fannie Mae, a housing finance platform. While he started as the General Counsel for the company, he further went on to become a board member and even earned about $1.5 million in the last two years, Bloomberg reports.

Furthermore, Brooks reportedly possesses somewhere between $1 million and $2.2 million worth of stocks and bonds. In an interview, Brooks was asked if he would shift from being the acting comptroller to the full-time comptroller. To which Brooks replied,

 “It’s up to the president.”