Kevin Hassett, head of the White House National Economic Council, has suddenly become the market\u2019s base case for the next Fed chair \u2013 and crypto investors are already gaming out what a \u201cHassett Fed\u201d would mean. According to Bloomberg-sourced reporting, Hassett has \u201cemerged as the frontrunner\u201d for President Donald Trump\u2019s choice to lead the Federal Reserve, seen as the candidate most aligned with Trump\u2019s preference for lower interest rates. Earlier disclosures showed Hassett previously served as an adviser to Coinbase and holds at least $1 million in Coinbase stock.<\/p>\n
For crypto allocators, that combination of macro dovishness and direct exposure to a major US exchange is the core of the bull case. Bitwise senior investment strategist Juan Leon put it<\/a> bluntly on X: \u201cIf Kevin Hassett becomes Fed Chair, the implications for crypto are strongly bullish.\u201d He calls Hassett an \u201caggressive \u2018dove\u2019 who has publicly criticized current rates for being too high and advocated for deeper, faster cuts,\u201d highlighting that he \u201cserved on Coinbase\u2019s advisory board and owns large stake in COIN,\u201d and that he \u201cled the White House digital asset working group to shape pro-crypto regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n But the potential Hassett regime cannot be separated from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent\u2019s emerging blueprint for the Fed. Bessent has been openly questioning the post-crisis operating framework. As Walter Bloomberg relayed from his CNBC appearance, \u201cBESSENT ON FED: \u2018AMPLE RESERVES REGIME\u2019 MIGHT BE FRAYING.\u201d<\/p>\n Forward Guidance host Felix Jauvin summarized the direction of travel in a post<\/a>: \u201cBessent wants a fed chair that gets us out of balance sheet shenanigans and simplifying things to how they were pre-ample regime. Dovish FFR, hawkish balance sheet.\u201d He added: \u201cI don\u2019t know if I can emphasize enough just how far away we are from any sort of QE copium.\u201d<\/p>\n That framing matters for crypto. A Hassett Fed that cuts the policy rate faster in downturns is one thing; a return to full-blown quantitative easing is another. A \u201cdovish FFR, hawkish balance sheet\u201d mix would still be a friendlier macro environment than the post-2022 tightening cycle, but it is not a guaranteed repeat of the 2020\u20132021 liquidity wave that lifted every risk asset simultaneously.<\/p>\n Rate cuts without large-scale asset purchases support risk appetite and lower discount rates, yet they do not automatically recreate the extreme \u201ceverything rally\u201d conditions<\/a> that many in crypto implicitly associate with Fed dovishness.<\/p>\n The political logic behind Hassett\u2019s rise has been described most clearly by macro commentator EndGame Macro (@onechancefreedm). In a thread<\/a>, he argues that \u201cHassett isn\u2019t leading because he\u2019s the most academic or the most central bankerish. He\u2019s leading because he checks the boxes Trump actually cares about.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump, he writes, wants someone he already trusts, who has \u201cspent years defending Trump publicly,\u201d and who has been \u201copenly critical of the Fed for being too slow, too cautious, and too political.\u201d In that framework, \u201cmarkets hear dovish. Trump hears I can deliver growth again. And crypto folks hear one of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Markets are starting to agree. On Polymarket, contracts tracking the Fed chair race<\/a> show Hassett around 53% at press time, reinforcing that shift from speculation to probabilistic base case.<\/p>\n