New Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Plans To Divest Dozens Of Assets, Including Crypto ETFs

Key Points:

  • New Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will resign from his hedge fund, Key Square Group.
  • Bessent disclosed assets exceeding $521 million, including a Bitcoin-linked ETF, all of which he plans to divest.
According to Bloomberg, Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Treasury secretary, will resign from Key Square Group and divest his stake in the hedge fund if he is confirmed by the Senate.
New Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Plans To Divest Dozens Of Assets, Including Crypto ETFs

Read more: President-elect Donald Trump Puts US Back on Top In Crypto Market

New Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Resign from Key Square Group

The announcement follows a document from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics detailing how he will comply with conflict-of-interest rules.

The new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the founder and head of Key Square Group, will sell his interest in the firm within 90 days of his confirmation, according to his financial disclosure. It appears that the hedge fund, focused on macroeconomic strategies, will unwind operations by the end of March.

As part of the nomination process, Bessent reported personal assets of more than $521 million. Those include U.S. Treasury bills, Invesco funds, foreign currency positions and a Bitcoin-linked ETF. Bessent, who holds a minor personal investment in the ETF, agreed to divest all such investments.

Senate rules require nominees to disclose potential conflicts of interest and outline plans to divest incompatible assets in advance of confirmation hearings. A confirmation hearing for Bessent is scheduled for Thursday.

Bessent to Shape Tax and Digital Asset Policies if Confirmed

If confirmed, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will have a say in everything from tax reform to the regulation of digital assets. Long an advocate for a recalibration of U.S. currency policies, he has not advocated strategies to actively depreciate the dollar. During Trump’s first term, the president frequently complained that dollar appreciation was hurting American manufacturers.

Bessent’s selection for the Treasury post comes after a number of high-profile contenders had been in contention for the position, including Apollo Global Management executive Marc Rowan, former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh, Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty and Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick, who has been tapped to lead the Commerce Department.

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