The US Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday moved forward with the confirmation process for acting Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Travil Hill, setting up a final vote in the Senate at large to potentially make Hill the permanent head of the banking agency that has an ongoing role in overseeing the crypto sector.
Senators voted along party lines 13 to 11 to report Hill’s Senate nomination “favorably” during an executive session of the committee. If confirmed by the Senate, President Donald Trump will see another of his nominees ascend to the helm of a financial agency, a regulator that has had a significant impact on the health of crypto companies in the US.
The FDIC, one of the top three U.S. banking regulators, played a central role in the “defunding” controversy in which the cryptocurrency industry blames regulators for pressuring banks to sever ties with digital asset companies and their leaders. Hill personally recognized the situation and sought to reverse it while leading the FDIC as acting chairman.
On Wednesday, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott said Hill, a former staffer on that committee, is “more than qualified for this important role.” But the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, criticized Hill for what she described as a failure to provide requested information about the agency’s internal efforts to remedy the workplace conduct and culture scandal that erupted under her previous leadership.
In his first weeks at the helm of the agency, Hill reversed previous guidance that had made it difficult for bankers to engage in crypto activities. He has maintained a pro-cryptocurrency stance during his time there and helped Coinbase in its campaign to reveal communications between the FDIC and banks about blocking new digital asset businesses.
While Trump had made a relatively quick effort to secure a friendly leader at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Paul Atkins, his nominees for other agencies have not always been confirmed so quickly. Among banking regulators, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency got a new chief in July with the confirmation of Jonathan Gould. But the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ran into confirmation drama, and the FDIC is nearing the end of the administration’s first year without a permanent chairman.
Read more: Trump makes official the election of Travis Hill as his option to lead the FDIC
