Billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury secretary, plans to divest several assets, including investments in Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), to avoid possible conflicts of interest with his new role. according to a New York Times report.
On Saturday, Bessent, who worked for billionaire liberal philanthropist George Soros, filed the ethics agreement and financial disclosures required for the impending Senate confirmation, revealing assets and investments worth more than $700 million of dollars. The tally includes BTC ETF holdings worth $250,000 to $500,000, according to media reports.
Other key investments posing a potential conflict of interest include a margin loan of more than $50 million with Goldman Sachs, an account for trading Chinese currency and a stake in conservative publisher All Seasons.
Bessent, in a letter to the ethics office, promised “to avoid any real or apparent conflict of interest in the event that I am confirmed as Secretary of the Department of the Treasury.”
If confirmed, the pro-crypto Bessent would face the difficult task of managing the growing federal debt amid Trump’s plans to extend expiring tax cuts and eliminate taxes on security benefits social.
Bessent is an advocate of tax reform and deregulation, particularly to boost bank lending and energy production. In October last year, Bessent said the new Trump administration would likely seek to maintain a strong dollar, in line with Washington’s decades-long policy.
