Key Takeaways
- David Sacks has been named by Donald Trump as the White House AI and Crypto Czar.
- Bags were invested in Bitcoin early and will be involved in regulating the crypto industry after Trump’s nomination.
President-elect Donald Trump has named David Sacks as his White House AI and Crypto Czar. Who is David Sacks and what is his stance on Bitcoin and crypto?
Who is David Sacks?
David Sacks is a South African entrepreneur and investor known for his influential roles in the tech industry. He was born in Cape Town, South Africa, into a Jewish family and moved to the US at the age of five, where his family established roots in Tennessee.
Growing up, Sacks was inspired by his grandfather, who started a candy factory in the 1920s. Although he did not initially intend to become an entrepreneur – he preferred not to follow in his father’s footsteps as an endocrinologist – his family’s entrepreneurial legacy influenced his career path.
He attended the University of Memphis School before pursuing higher education at Stanford University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1994. He later received a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1998.
In 1999, Sacks joined PayPal as its first product director and later became the company’s Chief Operating Officer. He played a key role in transforming PayPal into a global leader in online payments.
After PayPal was acquired by eBay in late 2002, Sacks founded Yammer, a social networking platform for businesses that was acquired by Microsoft.
In 2017, he co-founded Craft Ventures. The venture capital firm has invested in several successful technology companies such as SpaceX, Uber, Airbnb, BitGo, and Reddit, to name a few. As of November 2023, Craft Ventures’ assets under management grew to $3.3 billion.
In addition to his accomplishments at Craft Ventures, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur is also known for co-hosting the “All-In” podcast with other top venture capitalists. The podcast discusses various topics related to technology, politics and economics.
He is a close friend of Elon Musk
David Sacks and Elon Musk have a close relationship rooted in their work in the early development of PayPal. After leaving the company, the two became successful entrepreneurs and continued to work together on various ventures.
They are part of the so-called “PayPal Mafia”, a network of influential tech entrepreneurs who worked together in the early 2000s and have gone on to create successful tech companies.
The venture capitalist played an important role in Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (now X). Bags provided financing for the $44 billion deal and was a trusted advisor during the ownership transition, according to the NYT.
Sacks is also known for his political contributions, most notably for his support of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a pro-Bitcoin and anti-CBDC politician.
A Trump supporter
Sacks has positioned himself as a strong advocate for Trump’s return to the presidency. It is a view that Trump’s policies are better suited to meet the challenges facing the country. In contrast, he believes the Biden administration has struggled to provide strong options.
The entrepreneur has been vocal in his criticism of the policies of the current administration, especially regarding key issues such as the economy, foreign policy, and border security. He believes that America, under the leadership of Donald Trump, can regain prosperity, security and stability.
On December 5, Trump officially appointed Sacks as the White House AI and Crypto Czar.
He is expected to guide the administration’s policies on AI and crypto—areas considered essential to America’s competitiveness. The focus would be on creating a legal framework that will bring clarity to the crypto industry.
Trump said Sacks would work to protect free speech online and help build regulatory frameworks for the crypto industry.
And a Bitcoin investor
Wallets have long supported crypto-assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, seeing them as an embodiment of the original vision behind PayPal – establishing a “money database” where transactions stay within secure digital ecosystem.
He has watched the evolution of Bitcoin from a niche asset to a more mainstream investment opportunity, and has invested in the leading crypto asset.
“I’ve been interested in Bitcoin since I think I first bought it in 2012. We expressed a thesis back in 2017, 2018 that we thought crypto a ‘graduating into an institutional asset class and becoming really more of a consumer retail phenomenon,’ said Sack during an interview with Anthony Pompliano.
“So we ended up investing in institutional holdings through a company called BitGo and we also invested in Multicoin, a crypto-focused hedge fund,” he said. “We fundamentally believe as that crypto comes to the asset level, you would need dedicated asset managers.”
Sack believes that the transformative part of Bitcoin has the potential to work as a non-fiat currency.
Given the risks associated with government-controlled currencies, especially currency depreciation due to excessive money printing, he believes that Bitcoin provides an opportunity for a financial system independent of government control.
“There is a huge risk of currency debasement when the government is in control and especially when you have the world’s reserve currency. There is such a temptation to print money to fund your budget and collect loans that cannot be repaid,” said the VC.
“What Bitcoin offers is a different currency where there is no government backing; he is sent back with good; it is supported by encryption. You don’t have to trust the government. There will only be 21 million BTC. You have to trust that Bitcoin will not be effectively cracked,” he said.
While Sacks believes that Bitcoin has the strongest case among crypto assets, he recognizes other technological advances that have emerged alongside it, such as blockchain technology and decentralized finance.
