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The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Accountable.US
Contact:

Report: Commerce Sec. Lutnick’s Family Business Dumped At Least $300M More Into Largest Corporate Bitcoin Holder As Lutnick Helped Establish Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

An Accountable.US review of Q1 2025 SEC filings posted this week for Cantor Fitzgerald – billionaire Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s family-run financial services firm – reveals that while Lutnick was playing a leading role in President Trump’s national Bitcoin reserve effort, Lutnick’s family business empire dramatically deepened its investment in Microstrategy (now called Strategy), the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the world. From Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, Lutnick’s family-run Cantor Fitzgerald increased its holding of regular Strategy stock by $304 million, to a total of $1.3 billion, even amid being publicly criticized for the egregious conflict of interest. Including puts and calls, Accountable.US found Cantor boosted its total investment by over $568 million to over $2.1 billion, representing 44.5% of the firm’s portfolio.

“President Trump’s billionaire Commerce Secretary has been playing the ultimate Washington insider game to pad his family’s riches,” said Accountable.US Executive Director. “From the White House, Howard Lutnick has played a leading role in orchestrating Trump’s Bitcoin reserve policy at the same time his family company was pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the biggest corporate Bitcoin holder in the game – pushing up their stake by at least $300 million. While both the Lutnick and Trump families seem to be self enriching from positions of power with their massive crypto interests, their bumbling tariff policies and harsh budget plans stand to leave millions of working people with less health and financial security.”

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

  • In early March 2025, President Trump held the first White House Crypto Summit, where industry leaders discussed “regulations, stablecoins, and Bitcoin’s potential role in the financial system.”
  • Ahead of the summit, Trump’s billionaire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick broke news by saying the summit would likely reveal a “unique status” for Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, in an unprecedented national crypto strategic reserve Trump announced days earlier. Then, the day before the summit, Trump signed an executive order establishing a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” plus a separate “U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile” for other types of cryptocurrencies. Ahead of the policy announcement, critics called Trump’s crypto plans a “gift to the industry,” “open corruption,” and possibly a “blatant insider trading scam.”
  • Lutnick, who was CEO of “titan” financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, helped lead Trump’s crypto reserve and sovereign wealth fund, which was expected to invest in crypto. After his confirmation, Lutnick gave control of the business to his two 20-something-year-old sons—though insiders said his “grip on his various businesses is bolted tight” ahead of his confirmation, and expressed skepticism about his ability to truly relinquish control.
  • In a new filing for Q1 2025, Cantor Fitzgerald revealed holding up to $2.1 billion in Microstrategy Inc. (now called Strategy), which has “the largest corporate Bitcoin holding in the world” and was seen as “‘a big beneficiary’” of Trump’s crypto reserve announcement, also made in Q1 2025. Ahead of Trump’s official announcement, Lutnick notably said the reserve would give Bitcoin a “unique status” over other cryptocurrencies.
  • From Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, Cantor Fitzgerald increased its total holding in Strategy by over 1.9 million shares valued at over $568 million, to a total of over 7.4 million shares valued at over $2.1 billion. Excluding puts and calls, Cantor still bought over 1 million more shares valued at $304 million in Q1 2025.
  • In Q1 2025, Strategy continued to be Cantor Fitzgerald’s largest holding, according to Fintel, with the company representing 44.5% of Cantor’s portfolio, including puts and calls.
  • CNN previously reported Accountable.US research revealing Cantor Fitzgerald’s total investment of $1.5 billion in Strategy in Q4 2024.
  • On March 7, 2025, the day after he established the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, President Trump held a White House crypto summit—with Howard Lutnick and Strategy’s Executive Chairman Michael Saylor in attendance. Meanwhile, Cantor Fitzgerald’s holding in Strategy’s Class A shares soared by 20% from the day before Trump’s reserve announcement to the day Lutnick announced Bitcoin’s unique status in the fund.
  • In Q1 2025, Cantor Fitzgerald also reported nearly $88 million in other Bitcoin-related investments, including over $86 million in iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF.
  • In March 2025, after the Bitcoin strategic reserve announcement, Cantor Fitzgerald announced a new $2 billion Bitcoin financing partnership, with Cantor’s Head of Bitcoin Financing saying they “‘expect to substantially grow the operation over time.’” The move was seen as an expansion of Cantor’s bitcoin business “in the wake of Trump administration changes.”

Accountable.US has previously documented billions of dollars of interests Cantor Fitzgerald is involved in that could directly benefit from Lutnick’s role as Commerce Secretary – including urging a national television audience to “buy Tesla” stock in March while his family-run firm Cantor Fitzgerald reported holding nearly $840 million in Tesla Inc. in its most recent holdings report. Conveniently, Lutnick’s appeal to would-be average investors came on the same day Cantor Fitzgerald analysts upgraded Tesla to a “buy” rating.

Accountable.US is a nonpartisan watchdog that exposes corruption in public life and holds government officials and corporate special interests accountable by bringing their influence and misconduct to light. In doing so, we make way for policies that advance the interests of all Americans, not just the rich and powerful.

www.accountable.us
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