President-elect Trump has announced many major Cabinet appointments since his reelection to the Presidency on November 5, but one key position remains unfilled: Secretary of the Treasury.
One leading favorite for the position is Scott Bessent, an American investor and hedge fund manager known for once being the top investor for liberal megadonor George Soros. Trump has called Bessent "one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street" and met with Bessent at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
However, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, an outspoken Bitcoin advocate whose company serves as a custodian for billions of dollars worth of Tether's reserves, is also reportedly jockeying for the position. The New York Times reported that several leading crypto executives, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and executives at Circle, have been in contact with Trump's transition team, likely lobbying for Lutnick's appointment.
While other names have been floated — the WSJ reported on Friday that Trump was "irritated" by the aggressive campaigning on behalf of Lutnick and Bessent — Polymarket bettors now see the two men as having nearly equal odds of becoming the next Treasury Secretary, with a slight edge to Lutnick.
Lutnick currently has the edge with 49% odds as of Sunday morning Eastern time, while Bessent trails behind at 45%. In third place with merely 4% is Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2021, with other candidates' odds at 2% or less.
Lutnick's odds have grown significantly over the past day; his odds were around 20% for most of Saturday before skyrocketing early Sunday due to recent reporting. Bets on the treasury secretary have traded over $1 million in volume, according to Polymarket.
The increase also corresponds with Elon Musk's endorsement of Lutnick on X. "My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas [Lutnick] will actually enact change. Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another," the X owner wrote.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
