Howard Lutnick is a Bitcoin fan and Tether partner.
Written by: BitpushNews
On November 19 local time, Trump nominated billionaire investor and veteran Wall Street financier Howard Lutnick as the next Secretary of Commerce.
Trump stated in a press release: "I am pleased to announce that Howard Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, will join my administration as Secretary of Commerce. He will lead our tariff and trade agenda and will be directly responsible for the Office of the United States Trade Representative."
If confirmed by the Senate, Lutnick will be responsible for expanding U.S. economic growth and promoting domestic industries, helping to maintain and expand the relationship between the government and the business community. The Department of Commerce and other agencies will play a central role in implementing the elected president's proposal to impose tariffs on U.S. imports.
At 63 years old, Lutnick is the co-chair of Trump's transition team, and this financial mogul, who led his company to rise from the ashes of 9/11, may be the most legendary member of Trump's inner circle.
Wall Street's "Tragic" Spokesperson: Losing Parents at a Young Age, Company Nearly "Wiped Out" in 9/11
Lutnick was born into a family rich in the arts, but his mother passed away from lymphoma when he was a senior in high school, and just a week into his freshman year, his father tragically died in a medical accident. At 18, Lutnick was forced to hire a lawyer to settle his father's debts, relying on his sister and brother to get by, and he completed college on a full scholarship.
Wall Street—a financial arena filled with opportunities and challenges—became the stage for Lutnick to start his second life. As a newcomer, he quickly caught the attention of the Cantor Fitzgerald boss and was entrusted with important responsibilities, rapidly rising through the ranks to become the top candidate for succession. At 30, he was appointed President and CEO of the company.
However, fate's mischief was not over.
On September 11, 2001, as Lutnick was preparing to take his son to preschool and capturing precious family photos, devastating news arrived: terrorists had crashed planes into the Twin Towers where his company was located, and his brother Gary Lutnick, along with two-thirds of the employees (658 people), lost their lives.
Before the attack, Cantor had nearly a quarter of the market share in the U.S. Treasury market, and Lutnick vowed to revive the company. With the help of the London office, Cantor rebuilt its electronic infrastructure and managed to resume trading within a week with the remaining manpower.
Lutnick recalled in an NPR interview that on the night of 9/11, he told the remaining employees: "If we are going to work, we are doing it to take care of our friends' families. We went from a company that made a million dollars a day to one that lost a million dollars a day."
A week after the incident, Lutnick established the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, pledging to allocate 25% of the company's profits over the next five years to pay for ten years of health insurance for the families of the 658 former Cantor Fitzgerald, eSpeed, and TradeSpark employees (these profits would have originally gone to Cantor Fitzgerald partners).
According to data from The New York Times, the fund was initially launched with a $1 million donation from Lutnick himself, and to date, it has donated approximately $180 million to the families of employees, totaling about $280 million in donations.
Lutnick and Cantor have become one of Wall Street's most inspirational stories. Trump mentioned the death of his brother in his nomination for the Department of Commerce—calling Lutnick "the embodiment of resilience in the face of unspeakable grief."
BTC Fan + Tether Partner
Lutnick is a prominent supporter of the crypto industry. He stated in a CNBC interview: "I am a fan of cryptocurrency, but let me be more specific: Bitcoin is Bitcoin."
In 2020, when the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released new regulations regarding digital asset custody and clearing, Lutnick quickly sensed the business opportunity. He swiftly met with Tether's CFO Giancarlo Devasini to strategize the company's development in the digital asset space.
Starting in 2021, Cantor helped Tether manage a large inventory of U.S. Treasury securities backing its USDT stablecoin.
He mentioned at a Bitcoin conference: "At that time, I knew nothing about digital assets, and I was looking for opportunities to meet with all the important figures."
Lutnick stated: "Bitcoin should trade freely around the world like gold. As the largest manager in the world, we will do everything we can to make that happen. Bitcoin should be traded like gold around the world, with no exceptions, no restrictions."
Support from Musk
Musk and other insiders from Trump's circle called on Trump last week to drop previous Treasury Secretary candidate Scott Bessent in favor of Lutnick. Musk stated in a post, "Bessent is a conventional choice, while Lutnick will truly drive change."
The position of Treasury Secretary has been a focal point of intense competition within Trump's team. Meanwhile, this position is also closely watched by the financial community, as an unexpected nominee could have a direct negative impact on the stock market. Trump has yet to make decisions on several other key positions in his proposed cabinet.
The remaining main candidates for the position are Bessent, former Federal Reserve Board member Kevin Warsh, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, and Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty.
A Strong Supporter of Trump's Tariff Plan
According to OpenSecrets.org, Lutnick has previously donated to politicians from both parties, including Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. However, in recent years, he has become a major donor to the Republican Party, donating millions to Trump's campaign and hosting a $15 million fundraising event at his home in the Hamptons this summer.
During his campaign, Trump proposed imposing a 60% tariff on Chinese goods and a maximum 20% tariff on all other U.S. imports. He portrayed import taxes as a negotiating tool to achieve better trade terms, as well as a way to generate revenue to fund tax cuts in other areas.
As an advocate for tariffs, Lutnick expressed full support for Trump's tariff plan in a CNBC interview in September. He said, "Tariffs are a tremendous tool that the president can use—we need to protect American workers."
At last month's rally at Madison Square Garden, Lutnick described his vision for transforming the U.S. economy—returning to the "prosperous era" of 1900. He preached to the crowd: "When has America ever been truly great? At the turn of the century, our economy was thriving, we had no income tax, only tariffs."
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