President-elect Donald Trump has named David Sacks as the White House’s AI and Crypto Czar, announcing the appointment in a TruthSocial post Thursday night.
“David will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness. David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas,” Trump posted.
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Sacks is a limited partner in MultiCoin Capital, having come on board in March 2018, in addition to being a general partner and co-founder at Craft Ventures, which counts BitGo and Bitwise as portfolio companies.
In the hours after the news, dYdX, the native token of the decentralized crypto exchange by the same name, surged over 30%. Sacks’ Craft Ventures was an early investor, participating in a Series A round that raised $10 million.
Trump said that one of Sacks’ responsibilities will be to “safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship.”
“[Sacks] will work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the U.S,” Trump said.
Sacks is the former chief operating officer of PayPal, where he worked alongside Elon Musk. Sacks is part of the “PayPal Mafia,” a group of former employees of the payment processor who went on to create or lead major technology companies like Tesla, LinkedIn, Palantir and YouTube.
The news comes a day after Trump named former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins as his pick to head up the securities regulator when he takes office next month. Atkins works with The Digital Chamber, an industry lobbying group and is an adviser to Reserve and Securitize.
