The next Fed chair has crypto exposure in portfolio. Here are the details
Kevin Warsh's financial disclosure reveals stakes in DeFi protocols, Ethereum scaling networks, a Bitcoin Lightning startup, and prediction markets — all of which he's promised to sell.
The next Fed chair has crypto exposure in portfolio. Here are the details
Kevin Warsh’s financial disclosure reveals stakes in DeFi protocols, Ethereum scaling networks, a Bitcoin Lightning startup, and prediction markets — all of which he’s promised to sell.
Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh, second from left (Getty images)
What to know:
Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh disclosed numerous crypto investments in his financial paperwork with the U.S. GAO.
The size of those investments is unclear and could amount to only a relatively small amount of his sizable net worth.
Nevertheless, as Fed Chair, Warsh would help oversee and influence legislation affecting numerous sectors of the crypto industry.
Warsh, through a web of venture fund structures, holds equity positions in more than a dozen blockchain and digital asset companies spanning DeFi lending, decentralized derivatives, Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks, prediction markets, and Bitcoin payments infrastructure. And he has pledged to divest the majority of them.
The man who will oversee stablecoin regulation, bank crypto custody policy, and any future central bank digital currency decisions has, until now, been personally invested across the crypto ecosystem, though the size of those holdings was unclear.
The Full Crypto Portfolio
CoinDesk reviewed the complete 69-page OGE Form 278e. Warsh’s crypto and blockchain-related holdings are concentrated in two fund structures: DCM Investments 10 LLC (through a vehicle called Abstract Holdings) and a series of funds labeled AVF I, AVF II, AVF III, and AVGF I and II. Here is every identifiable crypto and blockchain position:
DeFi and trading protocols:
Compound — Algorithmic crypto money markets, one of the foundational DeFi lending protocols
Lightning Network — Off-chain Bitcoin payment network (a direct holding)
Crypto investment and financial infrastructure:
Polychain — Crypto investment firm
Scalar Capital — Blockchain investment firm
Polymarket — Prediction market platform
Lemon Cash — Crypto financial services platform
Alpaca — Financial assets API infrastructure
OnJuno — Crypto-enabled neobank
OneSafe — DeFi data infrastructure
Ridian — Crypto portfolio automation
SkyLink — DeFi portfolio management
Caliza — Global USD banking platform
Kinetic — Digital asset exchange platform
Web3, NFTs, and crypto-adjacent:
Crossmint — NFT developer tools
CreatorDAO — Creator investment platform
Friends With Benefits — Web3 community platform
Dapper Labs — Consumer digital assets (NBA Top Shot)
Tenderly — Ethereum developer platform
Vana — Incentivized data collection platform
Structure (Zaibatsu Heavy Industries) — Blockchain retail trading
Metatheory — Web3 gaming (held separately as a direct SPV)
In addition, Warsh previously invested in Bitwise Asset Management, the firm behind one of the spot bitcoin ETFs, though that position does not appear on the current disclosure.
What he has to sell — and what that means
Most of these crypto positions sit within fund vehicles whose individual line items are reported without dollar values, which, under OGE rules, means each is worth less than $1,000. In other words, they’re small venture bets, not concentrated positions.
But there are bigger pots that almost certainly contain crypto exposure. Warsh holds over $100 million in Juggernaut Fund LP, whose underlying assets are shielded by confidentiality agreements. He also holds dozens of positions in THSDFS LLC, some valued at $1–$5 million individually, all similarly opaque. Both will require full divestiture.
OGE certifying official Heather Jones flagged these in her review, noting that Warsh will be in compliance with the Ethics in Government Act once he completes the divestitures. The open question is how that divestiture plays out for illiquid venture stakes. Selling a position in Compound or dYdX token holdings is straightforward; unwinding LP stakes in Polychain or Bessemer Venture Associates funds is not.
The conflict question
Even after selling, Warsh will face a complicated recusal landscape. Federal ethics rules generally require a one-year cooling-off period for matters directly affecting recent financial interests. That could be relevant as the Fed weighs in on:
Stablecoin legislation: Congress is actively debating stablecoin frameworks that would define which institutions can issue and custody stablecoins — directly impacting DeFi protocols and crypto neobanks like those in Warsh’s portfolio.
Bank crypto custody guidance: The Fed’s supervisory stance on whether banks can custody digital assets has been one of the most contested policy questions in crypto since 2022.
Tokenized deposits and securities: The Fed has a direct role in approving or discouraging bank experimentation with tokenized deposits, an area adjacent to several Warsh holdings.
CBDC research: Though political support for a U.S. CBDC has cooled, the Fed’s ongoing research intersects with the payment network infrastructure represented by Lightning Network and Solana holdings.
The Bigger Picture
What’s striking is less the size of the crypto bets — most are small — but more that they exist at all. This is not a nominee who passively held bitcoin through a brokerage account. Warsh deliberately sought exposure to the specific protocols, networks, and infrastructure companies that the Fed’s regulatory and monetary policy decisions most directly affect.
His broader financial profile underscores the point. Warsh earned $10.2 million in consulting fees from Duquesne Family Office, the investment arm of Stanley Druckenmiller, one of crypto’s most prominent macro investors. He collected $1.55 million from GoldenTree Asset Management, $750,000 from Cerberus Capital Management, and another $750,000 in honoraria from Brevan Howard — all firms with significant digital asset trading operations.
His speaking fee circuit in the first half of 2025 alone totaled over $780,000 from firms including TPG, Warburg Pincus, State Street, Eli Lilly, and Centerview Partners.
Combined with spouse Jane Lauder’s estimated $1.9 billion net worth, Warsh would be among the wealthiest Fed chairs in modern history.
What comes next
Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said Tuesday that a confirmation hearing will be held next week. But Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) continues to block any final vote until the Justice Department drops its criminal investigation of current Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term expires May 15.
The crypto holdings will almost certainly come up in questioning. Senators on both sides have grown more focused on financial conflicts at the Fed, and Warsh’s portfolio gives them specific, named companies to ask about.
For the crypto industry, the Warsh disclosure is a double-edged signal. On one hand, a Fed chair with personal venture exposure to DeFi and blockchain infrastructure may have more nuanced views on the technology than predecessors who had none. On the other hand, the mandatory divestiture and recusal obligations could constrain his ability to act on whatever sympathies those investments imply — at least in the first year.
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