Democratic Senators reject President Biden’s nomination for OCC Omarova

A group of five Democratic senators reportedly turned down President Joe Biden’s candidate, Saule Omarova, for the office of auditor (OCC).

Omarova‘s nomination as banker was initially rejected by three members of the Senate Banking Committee – Senators Jon Tester, Mark Warner and Kyrsten Sinema – in a telephone conversation with Senate Committee chairman, Congressman Sherrod Brown, Axios reports. The opposition was also supported by Senators John Hickenlooper and Mark Kelly.

Omarova is known for her anti-crypto sentiment, who previously served as special advisor on regulatory policy to the finance minister. Faced with opposition from five Democrats and all Republicans, the White House candidate asked every other Democratic candidate to vote for her nomination.

Senators polled Omarova about her nomination on Nov. 18, including Senator John Ossoff of Ga, who had specific questions for Omarova about cryptocurrency. Her comments recognized some of the benefits cryptocurrencies bring to financial markets, but focused on the potential of cryptocurrencies to weaken the U.S. dollar, aspects that the regulatory body oversees.

What happens next is one of two things. Either the Biden government persuades Democratic senators who oppose Omarowa’s nomination to change their minds, or the government selects a new candidate for Senate approval.

In October, Senator Pat Toomey put pressure on Omarova for her lack of Marxist theses, and in early November, currency editor Michael J. Hsu highlighted Tether and Binance as daring players in the blockchain space.

Senator Hickenlooper’s Denver office did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Related: Senate Banking Committee Chairman seeks information from stablecoin issuers and exchanges, suggests a possible hearing

To add to the regulatory heat, Sherrod Brown, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Development, has issued notices calling on crypto companies to disclose information aimed at protecting consumers and investors on stablecoins.

As Cointelegraph reported, Brown’s announcement went to Coinbase, Gemini, Paxos, TrustToken, Binance.US, Circle, Middle and Tether, who are now requesting the requested information by December 3rd. Cryptocurrency companies need information about the purchase, exchange, and minting of stablecoins.

In addition, companies should also share the number of tokens in circulation and how often users exchange them for US dollars. According to the Senator, investors “cannot appreciate the complexity and the different characteristics and conditions of each stablecoin”. According to the letter:

“I have significant concerns about the non-standardized terms that apply to exchanges of certain stablecoins, how those terms differ from traditional assets, and the terms may not be uniform; uniform across all digital asset trading platforms.”