With veteran investor Scott Bessent confirmed as treasury secretary, crypto markets are bracing for potential shifts in U.S. policy under Trump’s leadership.
Scott Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager, has been confirmed by the Senate in a 68-29 vote as the new U.S. Treasury Secretary. With major responsibilities around tax cuts, inflation, and tariffs, his appointment could also bring big changes to how crypto is regulated, leaving many wondering what’s next.
Deep ties with Wall Street
Bessent got his political science degree from Yale back in 1984 and kicked off his career at Brown Brothers Harriman, among other places. He later joined Jim Chanos’s hedge fund, Kynikos Associates. With George Soros being a big client of Chanos, Bessent made the jump to Soros Fund Management in 1991. He spent the ’90s there, climbing the ranks to become a partner and eventually running the London office.
In 2015, he co-founded Key Square Group with Michael Germino, leveraging geopolitical and economic insights for macro investments. The firm secured a $2 billion anchor investment from Soros. As crypto.news reported earlier, Key Square, at its peak, was one of the leading macro hedge funds, though, by 2023, its assets had declined to about $577 million.
Now leading the Treasury, Bessent assumes his role during a critical period, tasked with managing the $28 trillion federal debt and addressing expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. While tax policy, inflation, and tariffs dominate his mandate, the crypto industry is watching closely for potential regulatory shifts.
CBDC opponent
Bessent has expressed his support for Bitcoin (BTC), sharing in an interview with FOX News that he’s been “excited about the president’s embrace of crypto” and adding that “crypto is about freedom and the crypto economy is here to stay.”
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