Former OCC Chief Brian Brooks Joins Board of Data-Sharing Startup Spring Labs

Brian Brooks, who left his post as acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) earlier this year, is starting to cobble together what’s next.

On Monday, California-based data-sharing startup Spring Labs announced Brooks as the newest member of its board of directors.

“Spring Labs is transforming financial data exchange in a way that is better for consumers,” Brooks said in a press release. “I launched my financial inclusion initiative Project REACH while at the OCC, and I look forward to working with the Spring Labs team to bring the benefits of financial services to more Americans, while reducing cost and increasing security for everyone.”

Spring Labs, which was founded as Springcoin, Inc., uses cryptography and permissioned blockchain networks to change how consumer data is stored and shared. The startup raised nearly $15 million in a seed round in 2018 followed by a $23 million Series A in 2019.

Late last year, Spring Labs announced its fraud-prevention work with lenders in the clean-energy financing space. In Monday’s press release it touted partnerships with over 50 financial institutions, including GM Financial, SoFi and Avant.

“We are thrilled that [Brooks] shares our vision as we build the secure rails for data exchange,” Spring Labs co-founder Adam Jiwan said in a statement.

Under Brooks, the OCC published a number of interpretative letters on how national banks can interact with the cryptocurrency space, with particular attention paid to stablecoins and their issuers.

Prior to joining the public sector, Brooks served as the chief legal officer of Coinbase.