Howard Lutnick, the billionaire CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, is officially the US Commerce Secretary after a 16-12 Senate Commerce Committee vote on Wednesday.
Known for his deep ties to crypto and Wall Street, Howard’s new job comes with a lot of moving pieces: the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act, and all regulatory power over tech infrastructure. His confirmation is a massive win for President Trump’s administration, which is pushing to bring crypto innovation back to the US and create a national Bitcoin reserve.
Anti-crypto Elizabeth Warren demands answers over Lutnick’s Tether connections
Senator Elizabeth Warren wasted no time tearing into Howard’s crypto ties. On January 28, she sent a letter demanding details about how much Cantor Fitzgerald has invested in Tether and whether the firm conducted proper due diligence before getting involved with the stablecoin issuer.
She wanted to know if Cantor verified Tether’s compliance with US anti-money laundering laws, sanctions, and “know your customer” (KYC) rules.
Warren framed this as a national security threat, telling Howard that: “Your deep entanglements with Tether raise significant questions about your personal judgment and whether you can serve without bias.”
Cantor earned tens of millions from managing Tether’s reserves and even bought a minority stake in the company. Plus Howard didn’t list Tether or any other crypto holdings in the financial disclosure form he submitted to the Senate, even though the form detailed his assets worth over $806 million and involvement in 800 legal entities. Warren wanted an explanation for that omission too.
Howard had promised to divest from Cantor when confirmed, but Warren and others aren’t buying it. Critics, including watchdog group Accountable.US, were calling for Howard to recuse himself from any crypto-related task forces once he officially takes office. It’s unclear to us if he ever actually did.
Ted Cruz says it’s time to reverse Biden’s “lawless” tech policies
Senator Ted Cruz, one of Howard’s biggest backers, couldn’t be happier about the confirmation. After the committee vote, Cruz told Broadband Breakfast that he expects Howard to shake up the BEAD program, which was originally designed to expand fiber-optic broadband access across the country.
Cruz called the Biden administration’s preference for fiber “wasteful” and said it ignored cheaper, faster options like satellite internet and fixed wireless. “Let’s use satellites, let’s use fixed wireless, let’s use fiber—let’s do it the cheapest, most efficient way we can,” Howard said during his confirmation hearing.
Cruz also brought up the CHIPS and Science Act, accusing the Biden administration of attaching “lawless conditions” to the funding. He cited the requirement for semiconductor companies to provide child care as an example, saying it was never part of the bipartisan deal Congress approved. Howard is expected to roll back many of these conditions and refocus the funding on core tech and semiconductor development.
Not everyone is on board with Howard’s plans. Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, voted against his confirmation, saying Howard didn’t give strong enough assurances that BEAD and CHIPS funding would continue to flow as intended. “I was looking for a stronger commitment,” Cantwell said. “You didn’t provide it. My vote is ‘no.’”
Does Lutnick have any crypto plans?
At the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Howard called crypto “the future of financial sovereignty,” making it clear he’s fully on board. He’s also pushing for mandatory audits of stablecoins like Tether. During his confirmation hearing, he proposed that stablecoin issuers should back their tokens with US Treasuries and undergo third-party audits to ensure transparency.
But given Tether’s long history of failing to provide a full audit since 2014, enforcing this policy won’t be easy, and we’re betting Howard knows that. The SEC’s newly formed Crypto Task Force, led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, will be working closely with Howard.
Their goal is to develop a clear regulatory framework that defines the jurisdictional boundaries between the SEC and the CFTC, regulates stablecoin issuers as financial institutions, and explores the “feasibility” of a national Bitcoin reserve.
