Brian Brooks is an advisor at Valor Capital Group and is recognized around the world as one of the most visionary global leaders in financial services, fintech and cryptocurrency. Cointelegraph ranked him 13th on its list of the top 100 people in blockchain, and Qredo placed him on the list of America’s top 20 crypto regulatory voices. In January 2021, Crunchbase ranked Brian tenth on its list of global influencers. Brian recently served as CEO of Bitfury, a global technology company, and of Binance.US, one of the ten largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.
During the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, Brian served as acting U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, heading the U.S. government agency that charters and supervises the national banking system. He also served as a member of the FDIC board of directors and as a voting member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Often referred to as the “first fintech Comptroller,” Brian is noted for historic achievements on bank charters, granting the first fintech charter (to Varo Bank) and the first crypto charter (to Anchorage Digital Bank), as well as for his work promoting bank-fintech partnerships through the “valid when made” rule and the “true lender rule.” He also signed the Fair Access Rule, designed to ensure open access to the banking system for all legal businesses regardless of political popularity, and issued pioneering rules on bank capital, national bank preemption, and other important topics.
Earlier in his career, Brian served as chief legal officer of Coinbase; general counsel of Fannie Mae; vice chairman of OneWest Bank, N.A.; and managing partner of the Washington, D.C. office of O’Melveny & Myers LLP.
Brian has served on a number of public and private company boards and has been an advisor to such technology innovators as Wander, Curve, Huski.ai, EarnUp, LoanSnap, TextIQ, HyperDraft, and others. Brian is also an accomplished pianist and a former board member of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. He is an honors graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School.