Trump Swears In Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve Chair

Kevin Warsh was sworn in as the new chair of the Federal Reserve on May 22, 2026, in a White House ceremony. President Donald Trump said Warsh would rebuild public confidence in the central bank while preserving its independence. The Senate confirmed Warsh on May 13 by a 54–45 vote. Trump nominated him on January 30, 2026, to replace Jerome Powell, whose term ended earlier that month. Warsh returns to the Fed with deep crisis-era experience. He previously served on the Board of Governors from February 2006 to March 2011, spanning the worst financial turmoil since the Great Depression. Appointed at 35, he was the youngest Fed governor at the time and worked closely with then-Chair Ben Bernanke as policymakers moved to stabilize the global financial system. In recent years, Warsh has criticized the Fed’s post-pandemic approach, arguing it tightened policy too slowly and expanded its balance sheet too aggressively. Now 56, he says he is pursuing a "regime change" agenda at the institution. Before joining the Fed, he served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush focused on economic policy. Trump told Warsh to "do your own thing" and emphasized that the Fed should operate without political interference. Holding the swearing-in at the White House—rather than the Fed’s headquarters on Constitution Avenue—also carried symbolic weight. Warsh has said he intends to keep politics out of the Fed’s decision-making. Markets are now weighing what a Warsh-led Fed could mean across asset classes, including crypto. His skepticism toward balance-sheet expansion points to the possibility of a faster runoff of Fed holdings than markets currently expect. Historically, tighter monetary conditions tend to pressure speculative assets as funding costs rise and yield-bearing alternatives look more attractive. Bitcoin’s ties to broader liquidity conditions have been widely observed in recent years. The narrow 54–45 confirmation is also a factor. With limited political capital, Warsh may face constraints on how aggressively he can pursue reforms.