The nomination of Travis Hill to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) moved forward as the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs voted 13-11 along party lines to advance his confirmation to the full Senate.
Hill currently holds the role of acting chairman of the agency, and his elevation comes amid significant policy changes and an internal reassessment at the FDIC. He needs a vote by the full Senate to be confirmed in the position.
To Republicans, he is an advocate for a regulator who will update bank oversight and allow new financial technologies to flourish. For Democrats, he would raise questions about eroding safeguards that protect depositors and financial stability.
Hill is leading the shift in crypto policies
The acting FDIC chair is most widely regarded as one of today’s most pro-crypto financial regulators in the federal government. And he has steered the FDIC over the past year to be more favorable toward digital assets on the basis that U.S. banks should have the opportunity to innovate without too many barriers.
Under Hill’s leadership, the FDIC has begun rolling back prior guidance that discouraged banks from engaging in crypto-related activities unless they received special approval.
Hill has repeatedly argued that “reputational risk” should not be used as a primary regulatory tool, calling it vague and overly broad. In his view, reputational risk is too subjective to apply fairly across institutions. Instead, he says banks should be evaluated on how they manage actual financial, operational, and compliance risks — not on speculative concerns about public perception.
Some in the digital assets industry have hailed such a shift, arguing that they have been excluded from critical banking services. Hill’s stance indicates a more permissive FDIC, one that’s willing to allow trial and error on blockchain, custody services, and reasonable crypto channeling.
He has also led a transparency push and issued internal supervisory documents that demonstrate how regulators approached banks that worked with crypto firms. In that case, Hill argues, openness improves trust — and provides institutions with clarity in expectation.
Lawmakers press Hill on oversight and culture
While Hill enjoys strong Republican support, his nomination has been a subject of great controversy. Senators have pointed out unresolved cultural and structural issues within the FDIC that have revealed years of harassment, bullying, and unsafe workplace practices, after an independent investigation reported on the matter.
At confirmation hearings, Hill faced harsh questions about how he’s solving these problems, what he is doing about them, and what reforms have been implemented since the scandal was brought to light through difficult conversations. There was considerable frustration among several lawmakers who were confused by the delays in receiving updates from Hill and some members of Congress.
One senator publicly warned Hill that a vote for him was contingent upon full transparency. Hill has maintained that he is committed to repairing the FDIC’s culture, holding the agency accountable, and instilling trust in FDIC staff. More broadly, he has proposed modernizing supervision, simplifying regulatory procedures, and enhancing the FDIC’s capacity to manage troubled banks.
The same goes for regional bankers who have rallied behind him, saying they feel he can address their needs and that a more balanced regulatory approach, one that does not impose unnecessary burdens, will avoid further problems.
With committee approval now in place, Hill’s nomination is in the full Senate. If confirmed, he would reshape the FDIC’s approach to innovation and risk-taking, as well as the relationship between banks and the cryptocurrency economy. His reign would likely be one of the sharpest new directions the FDIC has taken in years — one that will expand opportunities for digital-asset companies while also testing how regulators can balance innovation and stability.
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