Who is Howard Lutnick and Why is He Important to Crypto?

Clearly tenacity is in his DNA. Because as we fast forward to today, Lutnick is now the Secretary of Commerce under President Trump’s second administration.

Author

Adam Atlantic
March 05, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

You’ll see his face at the table when Trump’s cabinet meet. You’ll see him standing next to the desk in the Oval Office when Trump is signing executive orders.

You’ll recognise the face, but you maybe won’t really know who this guy is and why he’s important to the future of crypto.

Source: US Department of Commerce[1]

Hardship From the Outset

Born in 1961 in Jericho, New York, Lutnick was orphaned during his teenage years. His mother died from cancer and his father passed away shortly after he entered Haverford College.

He went on to complete a degree in economics and was poached by B. Gerald Cantor as his protégé in 1983. He would go on to become CEO and President in 1991, and Chairman in 1996. But Cantor Fitzgerald would also later become synonymous with tragedy.

As his bio on The White House website explains,[2]

Tragedy struck on September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 of its 960 New York-based employees, including Mr. Lutnick’s brother and his best friend. 

Lutnick rebuilt the firm from scratch and founded the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, which has since donated hundreds of millions to families of the 9/11 victims.

Clearly tenacity is in his DNA. Because as we fast forward to today, Lutnick is now the Secretary of Commerce under President Trump’s second administration.

And what we’re now finding out, is that role goes deep into all aspects of commerce and financial innovation.

Lutnick’s Deep Crypto Ties

Lutnick has been a strong advocate of digital assets long before they became part of Trump’s election policies.

Under his watch at Cantor Fitzgerald, his firm has become the primary bankers and custodians for Tether’s US treasury reserves.

Tether is the U.S. dollar stablecoin created all the way back in 2014. Its function was as a U.S. dollar trading pair that could be widely used across blockchains and exchanges to trade for other cryptocurrencies.

It is the primary ‘on ramp’ in many situations from fiat currency to cryptocurrency. Albeit to define Tether as crypto, isn’t quite accurate as it is backed by U.S. dollar assets – which is where the importance of Cantor Fitzgerald comes into play.

It’s believed this relationship began around 2021, but has since grown and helped Tether navigate controversy, maintain complete liquidity and signal to ‘TradFi’ that established financial institutions can coexist with crypto businesses.

Lutnick himself has become somewhat of an advocate for not just crypto, but Bitcoin as well having said via X.com, ‘… #Bitcoin is a commodity. When you truly understand Bitcoin, it's hard to see it any other way.’[3]

And, in September 2024,[4]

Over the last five years, #Bitcoin has been an outsider to the tradfi community, and it’s only now dipping its toe into global finance. Cantor will help tradfi bring Bitcoin all the way in. Tradfi wants new asset classes, and $BTC is here to stay.

Lutnick’s role as Secretary of Commerce will allow him to influence wide economic opportunities. One of those being the Sovereign Wealth Fund I wrote to you about on 6 February.

As the U.S. moves into this strong pro-crypto position, Lutnick I expect is going to make crypto a big part of the wealth fund, pushing crypto and TradFi much closer together.

In short, Lutnick for my money is the highest ranking, most pro-crypto person in Trump’s administration and may be the most important cog in the crypto machine we’ve seen to date.

Keep a close eye on what he does and says regarding crypto, and you’ll get a good idea of what direction the White House will head next.

Trust in crypto,
Adam Atlantic