Elon Musk Endorses Howard Lutnick for Trump's Treasury Secretary, as Bitcoin Price Nears $100,000

Elon Musk, the Tesla billionaire who has become a close advisor to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, surprised people with an unexpected crypto endorsement this week.

Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, who has repeatedly warned of U.S. financial collapse, has helped the bitcoin price soar in recent years. Now Musk has endorsed Cantor Fitzgerald chief executive Howard Lutnick for U.S. Treasury secretary in a move that could see bitcoin legalized.

Musk, who has become a close advisor to president-elect Donald Trump, said Lutnick would "enact change" while his rival candidate Scott Bessent would continue the "business-as-usual" approach that is "driving America bankrupt."

"My view, for what it's worth, is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas Howard will actually enact change," Musk posted to X. "Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another."

Musk was responding to an X post made by money manager Kyle Bass, who called hedge fund CEO Bessent "eminently more qualified than Howard Lutnick to run the U.S. Treasury."

Musk said he'd be "open to" interviewing Bessent and Lutnick on an X Spaces broadcast as his endorsement pushed Lutnick's odds of winning the Treasury secretary role to more-or-less even with Bessent on the crypto-powered prediction platform Polymarket.

Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr., who was named this week as Trump's Health secretary pick, also backed Lutnick for Trump's Treasury secretary, posting in reply to Bass that "bitcoin will have no stronger advocate" than Lutnik.

"Bitcoin is the currency of freedom, a hedge against inflation for middle class Americans, a remedy against the dollar’s downgrade from the world’s reserve currency, and the offramp from a ruinous national debt," RFK Jr. wrote.

Earlier this month, Lutnick, who is leading Trump's White House transition team, told investor and YouTuber Anthony Pompliano that he has "hundreds of millions of dollars of exposure" to bitcoin.

"It will be billions," said Lutnick, who manages the assets for the $127 billion USDT stablecoin issuer Tether through Cantor Fitzgerald. "Bitcoin, which is rare and is special, will become ever more rare, ever more valuable, over time it'll be financed just like gold [and] oil. Bitcoin will be way, way, way higher—sometimes lower—you just have to have faith."