The US Senate will soon vote on Donald Trump’s nominee to head the US Federal Reserve after the president picked Kevin Warsh, who has previously expressed pro-Bitcoin views, to replace Fed chair Jerome Powell.
In a Wednesday notice, the White House said that Trump had sent Warsh’s nomination to the Senate to be chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve for a term of four years, and as a Fed governor for 14 years. The president had previously taken to social media to announce Warsh was his pick to replace Powell, whose term as chair ends in May but may stay on as a Fed governor until 2028.
Warsh served as a Fed governor under former US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama from 2006 to 2011. He went on to become a Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.
The prospective Fed chair has made many public statements favoring Bitcoin (BTC) adoption. In a January 2021 interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, he said “if Bitcoin never existed gold would be rallying even more right now, but I guess if you are under forty, bitcoin is your new gold.” In a 2025 interview with the Hoover Institution, Warsh said the cryptocurrency “could provide market discipline, or […] could tell the world that things need to be fixed.”
“Bitcoin does not make me nervous,” said Warsh. “I can hearken back to a dinner I had here in 2011 with […] Marc Andreessen, who showed me the white paper […] I wish I had understood as clearly as he did how transformative Bitcoin and this new technology would be. Bitcoin doesn’t trouble me. I think of it as an important asset that can help inform policymakers when they’re doing things right and wrong.”
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Powell’s term as chair ends on May 15, while his term as a Fed governor ends on Jan. 31, 2028. Although Trump has previously announced threats to fire the Fed chair, he is expected to finish his term.
It was unclear at the time of publication when the Senate would consider Warsh’s nomination, but he could face opposition from many Democratic lawmakers. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in January that Republican lawmakers “must not move Mr. Warsh’s nomination forward,” given Trump’s attempts to “cannibalize the Federal Reserve to eliminate its independence.”
“[Warsh] must make clear that he would keep the Fed independent and free from Donald Trump’s bullying, or else, he must not be confirmed,” said Schumer.
CFTC still lacks nominations for leadership
Although Trump officially announced his pick as Fed chair, as of Wednesday the president had not sent any additional nominations to the Senate to staff the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Michael Selig, who was confirmed as CFTC chair in December, remains the sole leader at the financial regulator, which normally has five commissioners. The agency is expected to have additional oversight and regulatory power over digital assets should a market structure bill moving through the Senate become law.
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