Trump Crypto Regulation Team Nominates Gould, McKernan

US President Donald Trump is doubling down on his goal of making the U.S. as a crypto leader by nominating pro-crypto executives to lead the US banking and market regulation. 

Reports indicate that the White House has plans to nominate Jonathan Gould as the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), while Jonathan McKernan is tapped to take the reins as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Gould as OCC Head

Jonathan Gould has extensive experience in cryptocurrency, starting off as a former chief legal officer of blockchain infrastructure firm Bitfury. Gould is also currently a partner at the law firm Jones Day, and was the OCC’s senior deputy comptroller and chief counsel from late 2018 to mid-2021 in Trump’s first administration. Before that, Gould was also a director at BlackRock from 2014 to 2018.

The OCC is in-charge of regulating and supervising all national US banks that are part of the Federal Reserve System. This includes major banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. One of the key roles of the OCC is to safeguard the US banking system.

With Gould at the helm of the OCC, it will open the doors for cryptocurrency discussions, namely, fair access of crypto firms into the U.S. banking system. This means that engagement between U.S. banks can become better equipped and more willing to entertain and maintain digital asset entities as banking customers.

McKernan as Director of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Jonathan McKernan has been nominated as the new CFPB director. Previously, McKernan served as a board member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and senior counsel of policy at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

In terms of experience, McKernan was a senior financial policy advisor to Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who served as chair of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as counsel for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in 2021-2022. McKernan has also served as senior counsel to the U.S. Treasury.

With his nomination, McKernan shall take the reins of a government agency that has been all but shut down over the last week, in accordance to President Trump’s orders — through acting directors Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary, and then Russell Vought, Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

McKernan’s nomination has been sent to the Senate and is awaiting confirmation, where it is likely to be approved.

What Does These New Directors Mean for the US Crypto Environment?

With the nominations of Gould and McKernan, who are pro-crypto figures, their respective agencies and offices shall be instrumental to assisting the White House’s directives towards digital asset management.

Once they begin rolling out initiatives and projects aimed to cultivate a more lenient regulatory environment for cryptocurrency in the U.S. market, it could open a more flexible crypto casino ecosystem where players can have easier access to such services, while also having better transactions with U.S. banks.