New Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Will Lead Crypto Regulatory Policy

According to CoinDesk, on June 5, the U.S. Senate confirmed that Michelle Bowman, a member of the Federal Reserve Board, was promoted to Vice Chairman of Supervision. The new Vice Chairman will have a say in both the banking access of cryptocurrencies and the issuance of stablecoins. The position of Vice Chairman of Supervision was established after the global financial crisis in 2008 to help the Federal Reserve focus on its regulatory responsibilities, as opposed to its more well-known responsibilities for managing U.S. monetary policy. The banking industry has always been a pain point for the cryptocurrency industry. Previously, the Federal Reserve and the other two major banking regulators took a highly cautious approach to the crypto field, but in April this year, they revoked the previous restrictions on banks providing services to the crypto industry. The Federal Reserve's potential regulatory role for stablecoin issuers remains unclear, and related regulatory legislation is still under discussion. Republican lawmakers have worked to exclude the Federal Reserve from its stablecoin regulatory responsibilities, but the latest legislation currently under consideration still stipulates that the Federal Reserve will regulate stablecoins issued within banks and assess whether foreign regulators are competent enough to handle issuers outside the United States.