A big fan of Bitcoin and the former CEO of financial company Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick has been confirmed as the new US Secretary of Commerce. He was nominated by the Senate and passed another close vote of 51 to 45. As part of President Donald Trump’s administration, this makes him responsible for administering the economic policies of the country.
In fact, Lutnick is a supporter of Bitcoin, which is widely known. However, he has often compared Bitcoin to gold and said it should be free to trade everywhere. He said at a Bitcoin conference earlier this year, “Bitcoin is like gold and should be free trade everywhere.” Bitcoin is a valuable asset and he has pushed for clearer rules to assist digital currency to become more mainstream in traditional finance.
During the time that he was CEO at Cantor Fitzgerald, the company made some moves inside the world of cryptocurrency. And they launched a $2 billion Bitcoin financing project as well as managed Tether’s US Treasury holdings, which backed the popular USDT stablecoin. They even bought a share in Tether of 5%, worth about $600 million.
Lutnick dismissed fears that tariffs would raise prices for consumers at his confirmation hearing. At the same time however, he supported the use of tariffs as a tool to motivate fair trade between countries. Already, the Trump Administration has imposed tariffs on Chinese goods and increased taxes on steel and aluminum imports, and is devised to levy more tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico.
Lutnick resigned from his position at Cantor Fitzgerald and divest his assets in connection with becoming Commerce Secretary, which are government ethics rules.
Michael Saylor from MicroStrategy and Senator Cynthia Lummis congratulated Lutnick for supporting Bitcoin. She was confident that he would assist the economy.
Lutnick’s new role has an opportunity to apply his knowledge of finance and passion for Bitcoin to lead the US economy and trade policy in interesting ways.
Also read: Bitcoin Set to Skyrocket: Analysts Predict $300K Target with Bullish Patterns in Play
