Trump expected to offer ex-Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler Agriculture secretary role
Quick Take
- Donald Trump is preparing to name Kelly Loeffler, former CEO of crypto company Bakkt, to his cabinet to lead the Agriculture Department.
- Loeffler, a former Senator, is co-chair of Trump’s inauguration team, while her husband is the current CEO of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the NYSE owner who founded and majority-owns Bakkt.
- Financial Times reported earlier this week that Trump’s social media company is in advanced talks to acquire Bakkt in an all-stock deal.
President-elect Donald Trump is preparing to name a long-time supporter and former crypto CEO to his Cabinet, CNN has reported.
Trump is expected to tap former Senator Kelly Loeffler, the original CEO of beleaguered crypto company Bakkt, as his secretary of the Department of Agriculture, according to the report. Loeffler will also serve as co-chair of Trump's inaugural committee.
On Saturday afternoon, however, Trump officially nominated Brooke Rollins as his U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. She is the CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group with ties to Trump’s transition team.
"There had been several discussions between Loeffler and the transition team regarding the position," according to CNN. "But Trump held off from announcing his Agriculture pick as he issued a slew of others Friday night, raising questions about whether Loeffler was ultimately offered the post."
Loeffler served as Bakkt's CEO from its inception in 2018 until her appointment to the Senate in 2019 by Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. The crypto custody and trading platform reported a $226 million net loss on $780 million in revenue in 2023, though that revenue figure was up substantially from its 2022 value of merely $56 million.
Loeffler's financial ties to Trump go beyond her fundraising on behalf of the candidate; Loeffler's husband, Jeff Sprecher, is the founder, chair and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, also known as ICE, a financial services company that owns the New York Stock Exchange and that founded and majority-owns Bakkt.
Now, the media company behind Truth Social, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), is in "advanced talks" to purchase Bakkt in an all-stock deal, according to a report from the Financial Times from earlier this week. The acquisition would give the president-elect, who owns 53% of TMTG, another crypto venture in his portfolio. According to the report, Bakkt is looking to build a trading platform for institutional investors and may wind down its crypto custody business, which is licensed in New York.
Throughout her short stint in the Senate Loeffler voted often with the president-elect, touting a "100 percent Trump voting record" in her re-election campaign and referring to herself as America's most conservative Senator.
Update, Nov. 23, 5:20 p.m. ET to include details of Rollins' nomination.
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