Kevin Warsh, President Trump's nominee to succeed Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chair, filed a 69-page financial disclosure on April 14 revealing equity positions in more than 20 blockchain and digital asset companies. The holdings span DeFi lending protocols, Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks, pre...
"The underlying technology in that white paper, it's just software. It's just the newest, coolest software that will provide us the opportunity to do things we could never have done before." — Kevin Warsh, Former Federal Reserve Governor (2015)
Kevin Warsh, President Trump's nominee to succeed Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chair, filed a 69-page financial disclosure on April 14 revealing equity positions in more than 20 blockchain and digital asset companies. The holdings span DeFi lending protocols, Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks, prediction markets, Bitcoin payments infrastructure, and algorithmic stablecoin projects. Warsh has pledged to divest the positions prior to confirmation.
Combined assets with his wife, Estée Lauder heir Jane Lauder, total approximately $192 million — eclipsing the disclosed wealth of every recent Fed chair. Powell's most recent filing, for 2025, showed assets between $19 million and $75 million. Former Chair Ben Bernanke reported roughly $2.3 million when he left office in 2014. The Senate Banking Committee has scheduled Warsh's confirmation hearing for April 21, with Powell's term ending May 15.
The disclosure raises direct questions about recusal obligations, divestiture timelines for illiquid venture stakes, and a one-year cooling-off period that could restrict Warsh's involvement in crypto policy decisions during the critical first year of his tenure — precisely when Congress is debating the GENIUS Act stablecoin framework.
Warsh submitted his financial disclosure to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) ahead of the April 21 confirmation hearing. The filing details assets held personally, through his spouse, and through multiple fund vehicles. OGE certifying official Heather Jones noted Warsh will meet compliance standards under the Ethics in Government Act once divestitures are complete.
The document reveals several notable income sources beyond portfolio holdings:
| Source | Amount | |--------|--------| | Duquesne Family Office (Stanley Druckenmiller) | $10.2 million consulting fees | | GoldenTree Asset Management | $1.55 million | | Cerberus Capital Management | $750,000 | | Brevan Howard | $750,000 | | Speaking fees (H1 2025) | $780,000+ |
Speaking fees came from firms including TPG, Warburg Pincus, and State Street. The Duquesne relationship is particularly relevant: Druckenmiller's family office manages the Juggernaut Fund LP, which holds over $100 million of Warsh's assets — with underlying positions shielded by confidentiality agreements.
The filing identifies crypto-adjacent positions across multiple fund vehicles and direct holdings. Most individual positions within these funds are valued under $1,000, which CoinDesk characterized as "small venture bets, not concentrated positions." The breadth, however, is notable.
DeFi and Trading Protocols:
Layer 1 and Layer 2 Networks:
Bitcoin Infrastructure:
Prediction Markets and Consumer:
Fintech and Crypto Neobanks:
Development and Infrastructure:
Advisory Roles (Past):
None of the cryptocurrency or AI investments included value ranges in the OGE filing. The ethics office does not mandate disclosure of assets valued below $1,000, which may explain the omission, according to Reuters.
The crypto holdings are concentrated in several fund structures:
The Juggernaut Fund is the most significant opaque vehicle. Because its underlying holdings are shielded, neither the Senate Banking Committee nor the public can fully assess whether those assets create additional conflicts with Fed policy decisions.
The Federal Reserve Chair holds direct or indirect influence over several policy areas that intersect with Warsh's disclosed holdings:
Stablecoin Regulation: Congress is debating the GENIUS Act, which would define which institutions can issue and custody stablecoins. The Fed holds supervisory authority over bank-issued stablecoins and has a direct role in approving or discouraging bank experimentation with tokenized deposits. Warsh's portfolio includes DeFi lending protocols (Compound), crypto neobanks (Lemon Cash, OnJuno), and an algorithmic stablecoin advisory role (Basis) — all categories directly affected by stablecoin legislation.
Bank Crypto Custody: The Fed's supervisory stance on whether banks can custody digital assets remains a contested policy question. Holdings in Solana, Optimism, and Layer 2 networks benefit from increased institutional custody access.
CBDC Policy: The Fed's position on a U.S. central bank digital currency directly affects competitive dynamics for private stablecoins and payment networks like Flashnet.
Monetary Policy: Warsh favors tighter monetary policy, higher real interest rates, and a smaller Fed balance sheet. These conditions historically compress valuations for risk assets, including crypto tokens and venture-stage companies.
Federal ethics rules generally require a one-year cooling-off period for matters directly affecting recent financial interests. If Warsh is confirmed and completes divestitures by mid-2026, recusal obligations could extend into mid-2027 on matters involving former portfolio companies.
Warsh has pledged full divestiture. The OGE has signed off, contingent on completion. Several practical complications remain:
Illiquid Venture Stakes: Many of Warsh's crypto holdings are in private, early-stage companies without public markets. Selling a stake in Flashnet, Eulith, or Vana requires a willing buyer or a secondary market transaction. Timelines are uncertain.
Confidential Fund Holdings: The Juggernaut Fund's underlying assets are not publicly disclosed. It is unclear whether the divestiture pledge covers exiting the fund entirely or merely flagging known crypto positions within it.
Valuation Ambiguity: Most crypto positions did not include value ranges. Without dollar figures, the Senate Banking Committee cannot fully assess the scale of Warsh's crypto exposure.
No SEC or CFTC Nominees: Trump has not announced SEC or CFTC commissioner nominees as of April 15, leaving critical digital asset regulatory positions vacant. This creates a scenario in which the Fed chair could become the most senior federal official with direct influence over crypto policy — while simultaneously unwinding a crypto portfolio.
Warsh has articulated a position that market analysts characterize as pragmatic rather than hostile:
On Bitcoin: In a May 2025 interview at the Hoover Institution, Warsh stated Bitcoin "does not make me nervous" and described it as a useful market signal that indicates when monetary policy is "off-track." He has separately acknowledged Bitcoin could function as a "sustainable store of value, like gold," while maintaining its volatility reflects speculative excess driven by loose monetary policy.
On Stablecoins: Warsh has called for clearer regulatory rules but expressed skepticism about private stablecoins replacing sovereign money. In a written statement, he said: "I am skeptical that a host of private cryptocurrencies are sufficiently strong and reliable proxies for the U.S. dollar" and "I also doubt that bank-like regulation of private stablecoins would ensure their stability in stressful times, absent government bailouts."
On CBDCs: Warsh supports a wholesale U.S. CBDC limited to interbank use, not retail consumers — positioning him in favor of institutional infrastructure but against a consumer-facing digital dollar.
On Crypto Generally: In a 2015 video conversation with Stanley Druckenmiller, Warsh described blockchain technology as "just the newest, coolest software" with transformative potential. He has since invested accordingly, though he has also characterized cryptocurrency as "software pretending to be money."
The Warsh disclosure presents a test case for how financial regulators manage conflicts of interest in an era when digital assets touch multiple regulatory domains simultaneously. A single portfolio can intersect with stablecoin legislation, bank custody guidance, CBDC policy, and monetary conditions — all areas within the Fed chair's purview.
The data points in opposing directions. The individual positions are small. The divestiture pledge is on record. The OGE has certified compliance contingent on execution. But the breadth of exposure is without precedent for a Fed nominee, the divestiture mechanics for illiquid venture stakes are unresolved, and the Juggernaut Fund's confidentiality provisions leave a material gap in public accountability.
Powell's term ends May 15. The Senate Banking Committee hearing is April 21. The GENIUS Act remains in legislative limbo. The intersection of these three timelines will determine whether the next Fed chair enters office with a clean slate or an overhang of unresolved crypto entanglements.