Wall Street billionaire Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump’s pick for Commerce Secretary and a noted Bitcoin bull, said during his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday that he would support government audits of stablecoin reserves.
Lutnick’s own firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, currently custodies billions of dollars in assets that back Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin. The world has had to take the company’s word for it, though, as no independent agency has verified how much fiat currency Cantor indeed holds on Tether’s behalf.
During a round of questioning today by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) on the lack of existing regulations for stablecoin reserves, Lutnick expressed support for mandatory inspections of such stockpiles.
“I believe U.S. dollar stablecoins should be audited, [and] should be completely backed by U.S. Treasuries, 100%,” he said.
When Cantwell followed up by asking whether the businessman believed America should adopt a particularly robust stablecoin reserve audit process more rigorous than existing processes, Lutnick replied: “For sure.”
