TrumpMarkets
|5 min ReadCantor Rides Crypto Boom as Lutnick Family Revenue Surges
Lucca Menezes
Senior Analyst
Published
Jan 16, 2026
Cantor Fitzgerald is having the most profitable year in its history. The boutique Wall Street firm, now run by Brandon and Kyle Lutnick, is riding the powerful wave of crypto activity, SPAC dealmaking, and niche markets that larger banks once ignored. Their father, Howard Lutnick, joined the Trump administration earlier this year as Commerce Secretary, drawing national attention to a family operation that is suddenly expected to bring in more than 2.5 billion dollars in revenue.
Crypto Trading Fuels a Historic Revenue Surge
Inside Cantor’s New York headquarters, the pace has never been faster. Co-CEO Sage Kelly joked that executives may need folding beds because teams are working from Sunday through Friday to keep up with the surge in deal flow. The bank now leads the U.S. IPO league table and ranks fifth in total equity issuance, ahead of long-established giants like Barclays and Citigroup.
The numbers are stunning. More than 250 of the firm’s dealmakers are on track to generate over 1 billion dollars in revenue. Per-banker productivity is roughly double that of major Wall Street institutions. And much of the growth is coming from one place: crypto.
Cantor’s crypto-linked financing deals, including work with billion-dollar treasury firms, have exploded. The bank was early to sectors like rare earths, robotics, quantum computing, and data centers. Those bets are now paying off, and executives insist the success has nothing to do with political connections in Washington. They say the firm built these capabilities long before Howard Lutnick entered government.
A Family Dynasty Steps Into the Spotlight
Howard Lutnick’s move to the Commerce Department left a large gap inside the firm he ran for three decades. But Kelly says the company rose to the challenge. Brandon and Kyle took control of the business alongside their younger siblings, and performance has reached unprecedented levels.
To critics who say the family is benefiting from political proximity, executives push back. They insist the business is independently run and that its current wins were set in motion years ago. “We have not gotten anything for free,” Kelly said. “People say that because they are not here every day. They do not see the work.”
At a Miami conference, Brandon described the moment with excitement and exhaustion. He and Kyle always expected to lead the company someday, but their rise came earlier than planned. “It has been a tremendous year for us,” he said.
Tether Deals, Stablecoin Expansion, and New Global Ambitions
Cantor is deeply embedded in the next chapter of crypto finance. It advises Tether, is an investor in the company, and is helping to build a new U.S. stablecoin. That deal alone could value Tether at 500 billion dollars, generating billions for Cantor. The Trump administration’s Genius Act, passed in July, created a regulatory framework for stablecoins, improving the business climate for firms like Cantor.
The bank is expanding into the Middle East with teams in Dubai and plans for Abu Dhabi. It is also recruiting aggressively in Germany and positioning itself for major consolidation among America’s 4,000 regional banks.
The firm’s fixed income division, led by Christian Wall, recently executed a multibillion-dollar bitcoin-collateralized loan. Wall says clearer regulation and political support for innovation are giving rise to a “new world.”
Scrutiny and Political Pressure Build
Not everyone believes Cantor’s rise is free of political influence. Senators Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren requested information after reports the bank considered structuring a trade that could benefit if U.S. tariffs were removed. Cantor ultimately backed out of the transaction and declined to advise Trump Media’s bitcoin treasury to avoid conflict-of-interest allegations.
Wyden wrote that when the Commerce Secretary’s sons run a major Wall Street firm, “people naturally question whether everything is above board.”
Still, Cantor is not avoiding government engagement. At the Miami conference, the firm hosted Eric Trump and Senator Ted Cruz, who now chairs the committee overseeing the Commerce Department. That evening, Brandon Lutnick went straight to a White House dinner attended by financial leaders and his father.
Crypto Winter Fades, and Cantor Positions for the Long Game
Industry veterans say this moment was inevitable. Bitcoin-backed lending, institutional stablecoin demand, and the entrance of global regulators are reshaping the market. Wall says the sector has endured its winters and is entering its spring.
Cantor’s leadership agrees. They see a world where crypto markets, traditional finance, and Washington policymaking are increasingly intertwined. And for the Lutnick family, the convergence has created one of the most profitable years in the bank’s 79-year history, placing them at the center of a rapidly shifting financial frontier.
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