The head of the financial services firm behind the custody of Tether’s reserves and launching a Bitcoin lending program will lead Republican nominee Donald Trump’s presidential transition team.
In an Aug. 16 statement, Trump’s campaign said Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder Linda McMahon would lead the team responsible for organizing policies and managing staff if the Republican nominee wins the US Presidency in November. With a net worth in the billions of dollars, both Lutnick and McMahon have been significant donors to Trump’s campaign.
Cantor Fitzgerald has managed the Treasury portfolio for stablecoin issuer Tether since 2021. An Aug. 14 Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed the firm held more than $18 million worth of shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund (ETF), roughly $4 million of shares in the Fidelity Wise Bitcoin Fund ETF, $1 million in shares of Proshares’ Bitcoin Strategy ETF, and $360,000 of Ark21Shares Bitcoin ETF.
Related: Cantor Fitzgerald head on Tether reserves: ‘They have the money’
Lutnick is also a Bitcoin (BTC) proponent, announcing the launch of a $2 billion lending program at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July. He and McMahon, who worked as the Small Business Administration head under Trump, will serve as co-chairs on the transition team alongside honorary chairs, including the Republican nominee’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, and his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
“Inclusion of Howard Lutnick is huge for crypto,” said Paradigm government affairs lead Alex Grieve in an Aug. 16 X post. “He personally briefed the House Republican Conference last year on stablecoins, and is a big crypto bull.”
In the transition team announcement, the Trump campaign reiterated its commitment to “deliver on [...] bold promises” outlined in the 2024 Republican Party platform. Under Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump — the presidential candidate’s daughter-in-law and wife of Eric Trump — the party platform was drafted to include language opposing the creation of a central bank digital currency and defending BTC mining rights and self-custody.
Neck and neck with Harris
The transition team announcement came the same morning Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris released her economic policy agenda for the first time. The US Vice President said her plan included addressing grocery and housing costs and maintaining the Federal Reserve’s independence.
To date, the Harris campaign has not taken a public position on cryptocurrency or blockchain, though many of her Democratic colleagues have called on the presidential candidate to establish clear rules of the road. Many polls showed that Harris and Trump were in a dead heat nationwide, with 81 days until the November election.
Magazine: Crypto voters are already disrupting the 2024 election — and it’s set to continue
