Amid a global race toward central bank digital currencies, also known as CBDCs, the United States needs to focus on the private sector, says Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks.
“We have built private stablecoins in this country that already have a market cap in the tens of billions of dollars,” Brooks said in a U.S. House Committee on Financial Services hearing on Thursday. Formerly head of Coinbase’s legal department, Brooks currently leads the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, which is the Treasury office that regulates federal banks. “These things are transacting daily, they are growing rapidly, and they are used for broad commercial purposes,” he explained, adding: