Crypto business waves goodbye to the major federal regulation as defections pile up

Michael Barr, the Federal Reserve’s Vice Chair for Supervision, stepped down on Monday, a shift welcomed by crypto market proponents as a potential move toward more pro-digital property laws.

Barr announced that he would step down as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on February 28.

He attributed his departure to “dispute]s ] over the position”, according to a statement.

It comes as sessions at&nbsp, U. S. national regulatory authorities become greatly politicized in the lead-up to pro-crypto President-elect Trump’s opening later this month.

The withdrawal of one of the U. S. bank industry’s bottom cops, who long called for the application of “appropriate guardrails” for the digital assets business, elicited cheers from some corners of the blockchain community. &nbsp,

” Barr stepping down is a huge win”, Samuel Armes, chairman of the Florida Blockchain Business Association, told . ” We need to clear out any Elizabeth Warren and Biden-associated appointees…to ensure the]federal state ] goes up to being honest toward our economy”.

As the second-highest position official at the Federal Reserve, Barr wielded significant authority over the U. S. bank system—a backbone for some crypto companies in the U. S. &nbsp,

Big crypto exchanges rely on businesses to accomplish funds transfers that enable users to purchase and sell digital property on their systems. &nbsp,

However, some of those businesses have recently been barred from financial institutions as a result of alleged pressure from national authorities to enact laws requiring them to cooperate with blockchain companies. &nbsp,

Some crypto officials, including Patrick Liou of Gemini, responsible Barr for debankings that have hampered the U.S. crypto industry in recent years, though it’s not clear if the Federal Reserve straight pressured banks to minimize relations to modern property companies.

Liou told ,” The environment for the crypto industry in the US has been untenable over the past four years.” &nbsp, &nbsp,

” Many]people in the industry ] believe that government organizations negatively influenced the” de-banking” of crypto businesses…guiding US businesses away from working with crypto clients and partners”, he added. &nbsp,

Barr’s departure comes a few weeks after alleged anti-cryptophobic SEC officials Gary Gensler and Jaime Lizárraga announced their resignations from their positions when Donald Trump, the president-elect, takes office later this month.

It comes shortly after Senate Banking Committee members canceled a meeting last month to appoint Biden-nominated SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw to lead the agency whose responsibilities are primarily those of regulating the U.S. crypto industry. &nbsp,

However, a change of guard at the Federal Reserve and the SEC is just one “part of a puzzle” &nbsp, that must be solved to ensure the crypto industry’s brighter future in the U. S., NYU Stern Adjunct Professor Austin Campbell told . &nbsp,

Federal authorities like the Department of Treasury, the IRS, and FinCEN also have a lot of authority to issue directives that affect holders and digital asset companies in the United States.

” It’s a much bigger hill to get U.S. banking regulators to embrace technological transformation so that our banking system can join the rest of the world using modern technology,” Campbell said.