Howard Lutnick, Tether’s Wall Street Banker, Is Trump’s Pick for Commerce Chief, Not Treasury Secretary

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump wants Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick — a vocal cryptocurrency enthusiast who has been stablecoin giant Tether’s (USDT) Wall Street banker for years — to serve as his Commerce Secretary, not Treasury Secretary.

Lutnick was one of many vying for the powerful Treasury Secretary role, but reports over the past few days suggested his stock had fallen in Trump’s eyes. Tuesday’s announcement that he would be nominated to the Commerce role instead supports that, despite Lutnick’s role as part of Trump’s transition team. Punchbowl News and The Wall Street Journal first reported his new designated position earlier Tuesday.

“He will lead our tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” Trump said in a statement.

Lutnick’s firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, is a stalwart in finance, known particularly for its influential role in the bond market. That includes serving as a primary dealer, an exclusive group of firms allowed to trade directly with the Federal Reserve. It has also dabbled in crypto. Since 2021, it has helped Tether manage the giant stockpile of U.S. Treasuries that back its USDT stablecoin. Cantor Fitzgerald also recently announced a bitcoin financing business — aimed at providing leverage to bitcoin investors — with $2 billion of initial funding.

“I am a fan of crypto, but let me be very specific: bitcoin, just bitcoin. These other coins, they are just not a thing,” he told CNBC in a podcast last year, adding: “I’m a big fan of this stablecoin called tether.”

Lutnick has argued bitcoin should be treated as a commodity — meaning it would face less regulation than, say, stocks or bonds — and is superior to other cryptocurrencies given its lack of central authority and censorship-resistant properties.

The 63-year-old is a long-time friend of Trump, a fellow New Yorker. Lutnick is already co-chair of the Trump transition team.

Cantor Fitzgerald’s history is marred by tragedy: 658 of its employees were killed on 9/11, almost one-third of its global team. Because it lost so many workers, the company was forced to embrace electronic trading instead of how things conventionally worked in the Treasury market: human brokers calling or visiting clients. Today, Wall Street is embracing crypto and blockchains as a way to disrupt old ways of doing business and keeping records.

UPDATE (Nov. 19, 2024, 19:47 UTC): Adds Trump statement.