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President-elect Donald Trump announced his decision to appoint former PayPal COO David Sacks as “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar” on Thursday, adding yet another associate of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel to his administration.
In a post to Truth Social, Trump wrote:
I am pleased to announce that David O. Sacks will be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” In this important role, 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. He will safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship. He 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. David will also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology…
The president-elect continued to praise Sacks – who previously said Trump should be “disqualified” from national office – in a follow-up post, adding:
David Sacks has been an extremely successful entrepreneur and investor for 25 years, building and investing in some of the most iconic companies in Silicon Valley. He was PayPal’s founding-era COO, part of the legendary “PayPal Mafia.” David then founded enterprise software company, Yammer, which was acquired by Microsoft for $1.2 Billion Dollars. Subsequently he founded Craft Ventures, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco. David is co-host of the All-In Podcast, the top podcast in Tech, where he and his friends discuss economic, political and social issues.
David has the knowledge, business experience, intelligence, and pragmatism to MAKE AMERICA GREAT in these two critical technologies. Congratulations, David!
Trump received backlash from supporters in June after he vowed on Sacks’ All In podcast to give green cards to foreign nationals who graduate from college in the United States.
“What I want to do and what I will do is you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” said Trump. “And that includes junior colleges too.”
Sacks is the latest associate of Musk and Thiel to become involved in the second Trump administration, following Vice President-elect JD Vance – who worked repeatedly with Thiel, including as the principal of Thiel’s Mithril Capital – and Jared Isaacman, who financed Musk’s SpaceX before being nominated to serve as the next administrator of NASA this week.
Musk was the largest shareholder of PayPal when the company, which was co-founded by Thiel, was acquired by eBay in 2002.
Last month, Trump named Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to head the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
