Donald Trump To Interview Pro-Crypto Christopher Waller Today As Fed Chair Race Heats Up

US President Donald Trump will interview pro-crypto Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller today as he considers successors to current Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

That’s according to people familiar with the matter cited in a Dec. 16 report by the Wall Street Journal. 

It said Waller is one of five candidates being considered, alongside front runner Kevin Hassett, who is National Economic Council director, and Fed Governor Kevin Warsh.

On the decentralized prediction markets platform Polymarket, traders give Hassett a 54% chance of succeeding Powell, with Warsh in second place with 23% odds. Waller’s odds have jumped from 9% to 19%. 

Contract asking who Trump will nominate as next Fed Chair (Source: Polymarket)

While Hassett is the hot favorite, he has reportedly faced pushback from high-level officials close to Trump. 

Waller Seen As Pro-Crypto

Waller joined the Fed’s Board of Governors after Trump’s nomination in 2020, and is seen as a supporter of the crypto industry.

He has said that he views stablecoins as “simply a new form of private money” that will co-exist with other payment instruments, and he pitched the idea of “skinny” Fed Master accounts that would give crypto firms limited access to the traditional financial system. 

Speaking at the Fed’s first payments-innovation conference in October, he vowed that the Fed would embrace the digital asset space. 

“I wanted to send a message that this is a new era for the Federal Reserve in payments — the DeFi industry is not viewed with suspicion or scorn,” he said. 

Trump Wants To Cut Interest Rates

Trump has publicly criticized Powell for not being aggressive enough when it comes to cutting interest rates. 

The Fed has announced three consecutive rate cuts this year, bringing the benchmark rate to the current range of 3.50% to 3.75% earlier this month. Trump says that’s too little, too late, and is pushing for deeper cuts.

Waller has been a leading advocate for rate cuts, the WSJ said. When the Fed kept rates unchanged in July, he dissented in favor of a cut.

Meanwhile, the Fed Governor has also received favorable views from Wall Street after he made logically sound arguments for the Fed’s recent rate cuts, the report added. 

But he’s still seen as an underdog because it’s believed Hassett and Warsh have closer personal relationships with Trump.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week that Trump will likely announce his pick next month. Powell’s term as Fed Chair expires in May 2026. 

Some experts have said that a new Fed Chair could be bullish for the crypto market. Among them is BitMine Chairman Tom Lee, who said that a new Chair will shift the central bank to a more dovish tone.

That could provide a boost for the struggling crypto market, which has been in an extended downturn since the record $19 billion liquidation event on Oct. 10.