David Sacks, a PayPal Mafia alumnus and co-founder of Craft Ventures, became one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first major choices for a crypto role as he prepared to return to office, naming Sacks the White House AI and crypto czar in December 2024. And in this role, Sacks saw Congress pass the first-ever major crypto law and announced several executive orders signed by Trump addressing everything, from the creation of a Bitcoin reserve to ask federal agencies to reevaluate their views on crypto.
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The Silicon Valley veteran is no stranger to the crypto sector, having invested in companies like Bitwise, dYdx, and BitGo through his venture capital fund. Alongside Craft Ventures, Sacks is a limited partner of Multicoin Capital.
“I look forward to working with each of you to create a golden age in digital assets,” he said during a press conference in early February, during which he said crypto was a “week one priority for the administration.”
Sacks, as czar and officially a special government employee, plays a larger role than Bo Hines or Patrick Witt, the White House’s point people for crypto negotiations in Congress, but he also faces restrictions on his role, an issue that congressional Democrats have taken up.
He has also faced conflict of interest issues since taking office, although he said earlier this year that he had divested from most of his actual crypto holdings and direct stakes in crypto companies.
According to the New York Times, Sacks still has financial ties to tech and crypto interests, including companies that present themselves as AI companies. Some of these connections can be explained by the fact that he is still a partner at Craft Ventures, which in turn has invested in several companies. Sacks said in a post on
