Former Ripple Board Member Tapped to Lead Biden’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)

The Wall Street Journal is reporting former Treasury official Michael Barr will replace Brian Brooks as Comptroller of the Currency.

Michael S. Barr, a former U.S. Treasury Department official and onetime member of Ripple’s board of directors, is likely to become the next Comptroller of the Currency, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Barr will succeed Brian Brooks, the former Coinbase executive who served as Acting Comptroller for the last half of 2020. Barr is currently a dean at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy. The news comes days after Politico first reported that Barr was under consideration, alongside law professor Mehrsa Baradaran.

Barr joined Ripple’s board of directors in 2015, though a company spokesperson confirmed he was no longer a member earlier this week. The spokesperson did not immediately respond to a question about when he left the board.