President Donald Trump on Friday introduced Kevin Warsh as his nominee to function chairman of the Federal Reserve, confirming hypothesis that intensified in a single day as prediction markets sharply shifted in Warsh’s favor.
“I’m happy to announce that I’m nominating Kevin Warsh to be the CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM,” Trump wrote in a submit on Reality Social, praising Warsh’s background in financial coverage, finance, and authorities service. Trump added that Warsh would go down as “one of many GREAT Fed Chairmen, possibly the very best.”
Warsh, 55, beforehand served as a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011 below Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, changing into the youngest Fed governor in historical past at age 35. He additionally acted because the Fed’s consultant to the G-20 and oversaw inner operations as an administrative governor.
At the moment, Warsh is a Shepard Household Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics on the Hoover Establishment and a lecturer at Stanford Graduate College of Enterprise. He’s additionally a associate at Duquesne Household Workplace, working alongside billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller.
By the point of the announcement, Polymarket merchants priced Warsh’s chance of being chosen at roughly 95% late Thursday, up from about 39% earlier within the day, whereas Kalshi markets confirmed related chances after Trump confirmed he would announce his resolution Friday morning.
If confirmed by the Senate, Kevin Warsh would substitute present Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose time period is about to run out in Could.
The nomination ends weeks of hypothesis, throughout which Trump’s shortlist was broadly believed to incorporate Nationwide Financial Council Director Kevin Hassett, present Fed Governor Christopher Waller, and BlackRock fixed-income chief Rick Rieder.
Kevin Warsh’s bitcoin and crypto views
Warsh’s nomination is drawing specific consideration from digital asset markets attributable to his comparatively crypto-friendly public feedback. Talking on the Hoover Establishment’s “Inflation Is a Selection” occasion final July, Warsh rejected the concept bitcoin threatens the Federal Reserve’s management over financial coverage.
“Bitcoin doesn’t bother me,” Warsh mentioned on the time. “I consider it as an necessary asset that may assist inform policymakers once they’re doing issues proper and fallacious. It isn’t an alternative choice to the greenback, however it may be an excellent policeman for coverage.”
He has additionally described bitcoin as a generational various to gold, remarking that “if bitcoin by no means existed, gold could be rallying much more proper now,” whereas suggesting youthful buyers more and more view bitcoin as “the brand new gold.”
Kevin Warsh has oblique ties to the crypto business by means of early investments within the algorithmic stablecoin challenge Foundation and advisory roles with crypto index supervisor Bitwise. Nonetheless, his views stay nuanced; he has beforehand expressed openness to central financial institution digital forex frameworks — a place that contrasts with Trump’s agency opposition to a U.S. CBDC.
Regardless of his openness to bitcoin, Kevin Warsh is broadly considered a financial coverage hawk. Throughout his earlier tenure on the Fed, he persistently emphasised inflation dangers, even in periods of financial stress.
Bloomberg Chief U.S. Economist Anna Wong lately summarized the view bluntly: “If Trump desires somebody simple on inflation, he acquired the fallacious man in Kevin Warsh.”
