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US President Donald Trump will speak with pro-crypto Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller today as he considers succeeding current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
That’s according to people familiar with the matter cited in a Dec. 16 Wall Street Journal report..
It says Waller is one of five candidates being considered, along with front-runner Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council and governor of the Fed. Kevin Warsh.
On decentralized prediction markets platform Polymarket, traders give Hassett a 54% chance of succeeding Powell, with Warsh in second place with a 23% chance. Waller’s odds increased from 9% to 19%.
Contract asking who Trump will appoint as the next Fed chairman (Source: Polymarket)
Even though Hassett is the big favorite, he has would have faced retaliation from senior officials close to Trump.
Waller considered pro-crypto
Waller joined the Fed Board of Governors following Trump’s appointment in 2020 and is considered a supporter of the crypto industry.
He said he saw stablecoins as “simply a new form of private money” that would coexist with other payment instruments, and he floated the idea of “skinny” Fed Master accounts that would give crypto companies limited access to the traditional financial system.
Speaking at the Fed’s first Payments Innovation Conference in October, he promised that the Fed would embrace the digital asset space.
“I wanted to send the message that this is a new era for the Federal Reserve in payments – the DeFi industry is not viewed with suspicion or disdain,” he said.
More drama in the nominations for the presidency of the FED.
Waller is expected to speak with Trump. Christopher Waller is the most optimistic candidate, even more so than Hassett.
Imagine if Trump chose Waller. What a turn of events. Hassett is now back in the lead, with the highest probability of being… pic.twitter.com/oj1xTaDezU
– Radi (@asymmetryfinder) December 16, 2025
Trump wants to lower interest rates
Trump has publicly criticized Powell for not being aggressive enough on cutting interest rates.
The Fed has announced three consecutive rate cuts this year, bringing the benchmark rate back to the current range of 3.50% to 3.75% earlier this month. Trump says it’s too little, too late, and advocates deeper cuts.
Waller was a leading advocate of the rate cuts, the WSJ said. When the Fed kept rates unchanged in July, he favored a cut.
At the same time, the Fed governor also received favorable reviews from Wall Street after making a logically sound case for the Fed’s recent rate cuts, the report added.
But he is still considered an outsider because Hassett and Warsh are believed to have closer personal relationships with Trump.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week that Trump would likely announce his choice next month. Powell’s term as Fed chair expires in May 2026.
Some experts said a new Fed chair could be bullish for the crypto market. Among them is BitMine Chairman Tom Lee, who said a new president would lead the central bank to adopt a more conciliatory tone.
This could provide a boost to the struggling crypto market, which has been in a prolonged downturn since the record $19 billion liquidation on October 10.
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