The Trump administration is considering at least 11 candidates to replace Jerome Powell when his term as Federal Reserve chair expires in May. At least three of them have taken positive stances toward crypto.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Wednesday that there are 11 “very strong candidates” for Fed chair, which he’ll begin to vet and shortlist starting next month.
The list of candidates, as CNBC reported on Aug. 13, citing two administration officials, includes Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, former St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, Fed Governor Chris Waller, Fed Vice Supervision Chair Michelle Bowman and former Fed Governor Larry Lindsey.
The list also includes Bush administration economic adviser Marc Sumerlin, investment bank Jefferies chief market strategist David Zervos and BlackRock’s chief investment officer for global fixed income Rick Rieder.
The Federal Reserve sets US interest rates, which affect how the market invests. Lower interest rates increase liquidity and usually spur bets on volatile, risky assets like crypto, while interest rate hikes typically see investors sell riskier bets.
Rieder once said Bitcoin is “here to stay”
BlackRock’s Rieder has made positive comments about crypto in the past.
He told The Wall Street Journal in early 2024 that Bitcoin could likely “be a big part of the asset allocation framework” and that “over time people become more and more comfortable with it.”
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Rieder told CNBC in November 2020 that he thought crypto and Bitcoin were “here to stay” and that “the receptivity — particularly millennials’ receptivity — of technology and cryptocurrency is real.”
BlackRock has the largest Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds on the market.
Feds Waller, Bowman make crypto-friendly moves
The Fed’s Waller and Bowman, reportedly also in the running, have both recently signalled a friendly approach to crypto.
Bowman, the Fed’s top regulatory official, said on Aug. 20 that the central bank’s staff should be allowed to invest a small amount in crypto to help them understand the technology, adding it would help with a “working understanding of the underlying functionality.”
Fed Governor Waller said a day later that the banking sector had “nothing to be afraid of” about crypto payments operating outside the traditional banking system, as it was “simply new technology to transfer objects and record transactions.”
In comparison, Powell has addressed crypto a handful of times and has usually urged a cautious approach. He said in June that crypto had become more mainstream and expected banks to increase engagement with the sector.
In December, he said Bitcoin was more of a competitor for gold than it was the US dollar.
Honorable mention: Jefferies works with crypto
Meanwhile, Jefferies, the investment bank for which Zervos directs strategy, is involved in crypto-tied entities.
The bank has backed the recent public debuts of trading platform eToro, stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group, crypto exchange Bullish and crypto-based lender Figure Technology Solutions.
It also bet early on the Bitcoin (BTC) buying ambitions of Michael Saylor’s Strategy, and has reportedly had a senior banker dedicated exclusively to crypto for at least five years.
Powell’s tenure as chair ends in May, but his 14-year term on the Fed board ends in early 2028. His highly anticipated speech on Friday raised hopes of an interest rate cut, with financial markets now expecting the Fed to cut rates when it again meets in mid-September.
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