Trump nominates pro-crypto CEO to lead commerce department

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President-elect Donald Trump has nominated a crypto supporter to lead the Department of Commerce. 

The Wall Street Journal (along with Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman) reported Trump’s expected pick of Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick for that job on Tuesday morning. Trump later confirmed the selection on Truth Social.

There were previous reports that Lutnick — a leader of Trump’s transition team — was in the running for treasury secretary. 

We highlighted Lutnick’s remarks on bitcoin in a September edition of this newsletter. At the time, the CEO noted that TradFi players — including banks and brokerages — would “go headfirst into bitcoin” when the regulatory environment improved. 

Donald Trump’s election win has seemed to set the stage for that, given the crypto promises he has made (namely, “firing” SEC Chair Gary Gensler).

Bitcoin surged to above $93,900 for the first time just before 2 pm ET Tuesday — up 3.7% from 24 hours prior.   

As BTC “gets invited into this party, up we go,” Lutnick added in a September video posted to X. That comes when banks can more freely clear, custody and transact in bitcoin, Lutnick said — a reality hindered by the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121, for example.

Aside from being vocally enthusiastic about the crypto segment, Lutnick’s firm has stablecoin issuer Tether as a client — a company that has denied being under federal investigation.

We and others are curious about what roles Lutnick might drop if he indeed takes on this cabinet position, so as not to serve his own business interests.

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