Donald Trump names David Sacks as “AI and crypto czar”

• David Sacks is the former PayPal COO and founder of Yammer, a SaaS company
• He will work on a legal framework providing the crypto industry with the clarity it wants

US President-elect Donald Trump has announced that David Sacks will be the lead policy advisor on artificial intelligence and crypto, dubbing him the “White House AI and Crypto Czar.”

In a post on his social media platform Truth, Trump wrote that Sacks will take up the role which are “two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness,” adding, among other things, that “he will work on a legal framework so the crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the US.”

As part of his role, Trump added that David will focus on making America a “global leader” in these areas, something Trump promised during his election campaign in August.

During the US election, Trump has focused more on being pro-crypto, and became the first US president to use the Bitcoin network. He achieved this after sending a Bitcoin transaction at PubKey, a crypto-themed bar in New York ahead of his campaign rally in Long Island in September.

Since winning the election in November against current vice president Kamala Harris, Trump has been appointing pro-crypto candidates for his administration before he enters the White House next month.

Earlier this week, Trump named pro-crypto Paul Atkins as the next chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), helping push Bitcoin to over $100,000 for the first time. Trump also has Tesla CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to “dismantle government bureaucracy.”

Musk, who was a familiar face during Trump’s election campaign, is reported to have donated over $250 million to Trump’s campaign, reports the Financial Times.

Elsewhere, in November, Trump named Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm, as the US Commerce Secretary.