Trump is poised to nominate former Fed governor and Morgan Stanley banker Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, raising questions over central bank independence and market reaction. Summary Trump is expected to name Kevin Warsh Fed chair after a final White House meeting, though aides warn nothing is final until announced. Warsh, a longtime Wall Street figure, beat out Kevin Hassett, Rick Rieder, and Christopher Waller after months of shifting preferences. The pick follows Trump’s relentless attacks on Powell and could tighten White House influence over monetary policy amid a fragile macro backdrop. President Donald Trump is poised to put a close ally of Wall Street at the helm of the US Federal Reserve, with advisers saying he is expected to nominate former Fed governor Kevin Warsh as the next chair as soon as Friday. Trump, who has cycled through favored candidates for months, told reporters he had settled on “a really great choice” and promised “somebody that is very respected, somebody that’s known to everybody in the financial world.” Warsh, a former Morgan Stanley banker who served five years on the Fed’s Board after being nominated by President George W. Bush, met Trump at the White House on Thursday in what officials described as the final step before an announcement. “A lot of people think that this is somebody that could have been there a few years ago,” Trump added, in a thinly veiled reference to his 2017 decision to hand the job to Jerome Powell instead. Warsh’s emergence caps a process that came down to four contenders: Warsh, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, BlackRock executive Rick Rieder, and current Fed governor Christopher Waller. Several aides cautioned that “nothing was final until announced by Trump directly,” noting the president has repeatedly shifted his preference as he weighed loyalty, optics and market reaction. Yet preparations for a White House rollout were underway Thursday night, underscoring how far the Warsh bid has advanced. The choice lands against a fraught backdrop in Washington. Trump has “attacked and criticized” Powell and the central bank “relentlessly throughout the first year of his second term,” raising fresh questions over how much independence any successor will be allowed to exercise. Warsh, who has long been floated for top roles in both Trump administrations and was even seen as a potential Treasury secretary before Trump tapped Scott Bessent, “looked the part,” the president told associates after their December interview. This parabolic move comes as digital assets continue to trade as the purest expression of macro risk appetite. Bitcoin (BTC) is hovering around $82,536, with 24‑hour moves near -2.2% and roughly $80.7B in trading volumes. Ethereum (ETH) last changed hands close to $2,722, down about 9% over the past day. Solana (SOL) trades around $192 on major USD pairs, with recent 24‑hour ranges clustered roughly between $185 and $194. For broader context on how ETF positioning can reshape liquidity, some analysts point to XRP structures, mirroring patterns flagged when $1b mark was first absorbed by spot ETF inflows, after warnings that ETF demand could absorb around 1% of circulating supply, building on December’s milestone when XRP ETF assets first surpassed $1b.
