Howard Lutnick's family investment bank Cantor is on track for its most profitable year ever after he took office as Secretary of Commerce in the Trump administration.
Written by: Todd Gillespie
Translated by: Luffy, Foresight News
A special item may appear on Cantor Fitzgerald LP's year-end expense list this year.
"I just left the office and joked with someone that I would gladly buy him a foldable bed because he has to come to work on Sunday and won't leave until Friday," said Sage Kelly, 53, co-CEO of Cantor Investment Bank, during an interview at the New York office.
This private boutique financial institution based in New York is steadily climbing the ranks on Wall Street, seizing the opportunity presented by the cryptocurrency boom, and reviving its SPAC-driven trading business, experiencing its busiest and most successful year ever.
Currently, Cantor is controlled by brothers Brandon Lutnick and Kyle Lutnick, whose father Howard Lutnick joined the Trump administration earlier this year as Secretary of Commerce. According to insiders, the company is expected to surpass $2.5 billion in revenue by 2025, setting a new record and growing by more than a quarter compared to last year.
From left to right: Pascal Bandelier, Christian Wall, Kyle Lutnick, Brandon Lutnick, Sage Kelly, photographed at the company's New York office
"Having an industry giant like Howard, a determined figure who has worked here for 40 years and led the company for 30 years, will inevitably leave a huge void," Kelly said. He shares the co-CEO role with Pascal Bandelier and Christian Wall, overseeing the company's operations. "But the whole company stepped up and succeeded — thanks to Brandon and Kyle."
Executives expressed disdain for the notion that "new relationships in Washington are helping the company succeed." They stated that Cantor's success is not coincidental but is achieved through a streamlined team and years of proactive preparation in areas that traditional banks have avoided.
According to insiders, the company's 250 brokers are expected to generate over $1 billion in revenue. Data from Coalition Greenwich shows that each banker contributes about $4 million in revenue, which is roughly twice the efficiency of large Wall Street institutions.
Cantor's spokesperson declined to comment on the company's financial performance.
This year, Cantor led the industry in the number of U.S. IPOs it underwrote, ranking fifth in all stock issuance transactions in the U.S., surpassing established institutions like Barclays and Citigroup. The company's trading business is thriving, with clients primarily from outside the U.S.; additionally, Cantor is expected to acquire the hedge fund O’Connor from UBS Group by the end of the year. However, this department suffered losses related to the bankrupt auto parts supplier First Brands Group, and the deal faced obstacles at the last minute.
Cantor has also hired bankers with plans to expand into the German market and participate in the wave of mergers and acquisitions among U.S. regional banks (of which there are about 4,000). Another target market is the Middle East: Cantor has established a banking team in Dubai and is preparing to enter Abu Dhabi, planning to introduce stock sales and trading, as well as investment banking services to the region.
A significant portion of Cantor's revenue comes from the surge in cryptocurrency-related trading, including financing services for billion-dollar crypto treasury companies; moreover, the company had already positioned itself in now-thriving sectors such as rare earth minerals, quantum computing, robotics, and data centers, which have also yielded substantial returns.
Howard Lutnick joined President Donald Trump's administration earlier this year as Secretary of Commerce
"The five core global themes correspond exactly to our five largest investments over the past three to four years," said Bandelier, 46, who also heads the equities business, which is expected to reach double the revenue of 2008 (the previous best year) by 2025.
After the Lutnick brothers took over the majority stake in the company from their younger siblings, this series of successes has attracted widespread attention from Wall Street and Washington. Executives dismissed allegations of conflicts of interest, stating that they now operate the company independently of Howard and had long positioned themselves in these inevitably heating-up businesses, with current profits being a natural outcome.
"I assure you, we are not reaping rewards without effort," Kelly said, "It's easy for competitors to say that because they are not involved in our work every day and do not understand the hardships involved."
On Tuesday, at the luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel in Miami Beach, Brandon Lutnick described the busy period the family has just experienced during a conference.
"My brother Kyle and I have always looked forward to sitting in this position, but it has indeed come much sooner than we expected," said 27-year-old Brandon, who serves as chairman and CEO of the parent company, while his 29-year-old brother Kyle serves as executive vice chairman. "This year has been a glorious year for our company."
The night before, Brandon hosted a dinner where he sat next to Bo Hines, a former advisor on cryptocurrency to the president, and the founders of the cryptocurrency exchange, the Winklevoss twins. Cryptocurrency supporter and television personality Kevin O’Leary, known for the show "Shark Tank," also sat next to him.
Cantor is also collaborating with long-term client Tether to plan the launch of a stablecoin in the U.S.; simultaneously serving as the company's financial advisor (Cantor is also an investor in Tether), assisting with its financing. This financing could value Tether at up to $500 billion, bringing billions in profits to Cantor. Additionally, the Genius Act passed by the Trump administration in July established a regulatory framework for U.S. stablecoins, which Cantor also benefits from.
"Long before Howard entered the government, we were already involved in the cryptocurrency space," Kelly said, "We had already positioned ourselves in technology and industrial sectors long before Howard took office, and we had also entered the power and renewable energy industries."
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino with Cantor Chairman Brandon Lutnick at the 2025 Las Vegas Bitcoin Conference
Not everyone believes in Cantor's independence. In August, Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren requested more information due to reports that Cantor was considering brokering a deal that would benefit hedge funds if U.S. tariffs were lifted. Insiders revealed that although other banks had also participated in such transactions, Cantor abandoned the deal to avoid potential conflict of interest allegations and also declined to provide consulting services for the Bitcoin asset portfolio of the Trump Media Technology Group.
"When the son of the Secretary of Commerce runs a Wall Street firm once led by his father, people will inevitably question whether everything is compliant," Wyden wrote in an email to Bloomberg in August.
However, in an unprecedented intertwining of politics and business, Cantor has not shied away from engaging with government officials. At the Miami conference, the company hosted President Trump's son Eric Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz — Cruz chairs the committee responsible for overseeing the Department of Commerce led by Howard Lutnick. That evening, Brandon Lutnick rushed to Washington to attend a dinner at the White House with Wall Street moguls and his father.
For years, cryptocurrency has faced skepticism, but early investors believe that the arrival of wealth is just a matter of time.
"You must first experience a winter before you can welcome spring," said Wall, 50, who oversees the company's fixed income business, which launched a billion-dollar loan service backed by Bitcoin and completed its first transaction in May. Wall stated that the Trump administration's support for innovation, regulatory clarity, and the resulting institutional adoption "is giving birth to a whole new world."
Bandelier noted that the company's success is also due to the stagnation of U.S. mid-sized banks. "This is the easiest time for me to hire in my career," he said.
In a sense, both Cantor and the cryptocurrency industry have changed, as this year's Miami conference (the third in four years) was opened to the media for the first time.
Another landmark event was that keynote speaker, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, spoke before the heads of two of the most influential financial regulatory agencies in the U.S. — SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham.
During the conference, the three posed for a photo with Brandon Lutnick and Cantor's General Counsel Stephen Merkel, all smiling.
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