BlackRock’s Rick Rieder Emerging as Top Fed Chair Pick — Pro-Bitcoin Stance May Boost Crypto Sentiment

Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer for global fixed income and multi-asset, has emerged as a leading contender to be President Trump’s pick for Federal Reserve chair as Jerome Powell’s term ends in May. Prediction markets (Polymarket, Kalshi) have recently pushed Rieder’s odds to the front of the field, reflecting rising market attention. Rieder has publicly endorsed Bitcoin — calling it a potential store-of-value alongside gold and recommending it in diversified portfolios — and has argued for faster, more aggressive rate cuts than the current Fed stance. Traders should note that a Fed chair with dovish preferences typically supports risk assets, which can be positive for crypto price action via improved market sentiment. However, detailed regulatory policy on stablecoins and digital-asset supervision is usually driven by other Fed officials and agencies (SEC, CFTC), so Rieder’s influence may be more rhetorical and sentiment-driven than a direct path to quicker regulatory liberalization. Additional context: Bitcoin was cited trading materially below recent highs in the reporting (around $88,000 versus prior highs near $112,000), and uncertainty remains over whether Powell will remain on the Fed board after his chair term — a factor that affects how many new Fed seats the president can fill. For traders, the key takeaways are: (1) a Rieder appointment is likely to be read as dovish and supportive of risk assets, potentially bullish for BTC in the near-to-medium term; (2) regulatory changes affecting crypto are unlikely to shift immediately as a result of the chair pick alone; and (3) market pricing (futures, options) and volatility should be monitored around nomination and confirmation events for trade opportunities and risk management.