Trump expected to pick crypto-friendly Howard Lutnick to lead the US Department of Commerce: reports
Quick Take
- Howard Lutnick, CEO of global financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, was one of the names tapped to lead the Treasury Department.
- Lutnick’s firm has served as a custodian for Tether since 2021.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is poised to tap bitcoin-backer Howard Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department, according to multiple news reports.
Lutnick, CEO of global financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, was one of the names mentioned to lead the Treasury Department over the past few weeks. He has also been helping to lead Trump's transition to the presidency. As Secretary of Commerce, Lutnick would work on creating jobs and bolstering the economy, while encouraging innovation, according to the department's mission statement.
Punchbowl News and The Wall Street Journal reported the news on Tuesday morning. Trump's team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cantor Fitzgerald has been a custodian for Tether for a few years. USDT is the largest stablecoin by market capitalization and is used globally. Lutnick has thrown his support behind crypto, including stablecoins and bitcoin. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July, Lutnick backed up Tether, and said USDT was backed one-to-one and held reserves in U.S. Treasuries, bitcoin and gold.
"There is one certain one-to-one backed digital dollar, and the name of that is USDT and the name of that is Tether," Lutnick said in July.
Lutnick also has been a fan of bitcoin and reiterated that during the summer conference. Lutnick told the crowd he and Cantor Fitzgerald own bitcoin.
"My view is bitcoin, like gold, should be free to trade everywhere in the world," Lutnick said. "As the largest wholesaler in the world, we are going to do everything in our power to make it so."
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