The Crypto Journey of America's First "Crypto Czar"
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The Crypto Journey of America's First "Crypto Czar"
The glossy resume of "AI and Crypto Czar" David O. Sacks and his story with crypto.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: KarenZ, Foresight News
Early on December 6th, Beijing time, President-elect Trump announced he would appoint David O. Sacks as the White House's AI and Cryptocurrency Czar. Now, let’s uncover the remarkable career of "Crypto Tsar" David O. Sacks and dive into his journey with crypto.
The Illustrious Career of David O. Sacks
Trump stated, “In this role, David O. Sacks will guide the government in shaping policy on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency—two fields critical to enhancing America’s future competitiveness. David will work to ensure that America becomes the undisputed global leader in both areas. He will defend online free speech and lead us away from the bias and censorship of Big Tech. He will also work to build a legal framework that provides the clarity the cryptocurrency industry has long sought, enabling it to thrive in the United States. Additionally, David will lead the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.”
Trump further highlighted David O. Sacks’ impressive background: Over the past 25 years, David O. Sacks has been an exceptionally successful entrepreneur and investor, founding and investing in some of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies. He served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) during PayPal’s early days and was a member of the legendary “PayPal Mafia”—a group of former PayPal employees who went on to found or develop other major tech firms. Later, David founded the enterprise software company Yammer, which Microsoft acquired for $1.2 billion. He then co-founded the venture capital firm Craft Ventures in San Francisco. David is also a co-host of the leading tech podcast “All-In Podcast,” where he frequently discusses economics, politics, and social issues. David possesses deep knowledge, extensive business experience, exceptional intellect, and a pragmatic mindset necessary to lead America to greatness in these two pivotal technological domains.
In addition, according to Bloomberg, David O. Sacks played a key role in helping Trump raise funds from tech industry donors. He also maintains a close relationship with incoming Vice President JD Vance.
Notably, David O. Sacks served alongside Elon Musk as an executive during PayPal’s formative period and is also an investor in Twitter. Musk and David O. Sacks jointly hosted a billionaire dinner in April this year themed “Anti-Biden.”
David O. Sacks’ Early Conviction in Crypto
Early interviews reveal David O. Sacks’ profound insights and strong belief in the cryptocurrency industry.
In a 2017 CNBC interview, David O. Sacks, reflecting on his role as an early participant at PayPal, said he never thought he’d become interested in payments again after PayPal. But now, Bitcoin was fulfilling PayPal’s original vision of creating a “new world currency.” Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were realizing that initial dream—doing so in a decentralized way (using decentralized databases known as blockchains), whereas PayPal had attempted to achieve it through centralization.
At the time, David O. Sacks remarked, “It feels like we’re witnessing the birth of a new kind of internet. Some call it the decentralized web or the internet of money.” Bitcoin enforces scarcity through a combination of cryptography and economic incentives—what he referred to as cryptoeconomics.
When asked how ICOs and future SEC regulation might coexist, David O. Sacks expressed hope that the SEC could distinguish between “protocol tokens” (tokens with actual utility within software ecosystems, and thus not securities) and “asset tokens” (which qualify as securities). Most ICO activity, he noted, was conducted using protocol tokens. Better projects had worked hard to structure their tokens so they wouldn’t be classified as securities. Still, he believed asset tokens—tokenized traditional assets—would soon emerge.
Regarding whether digital assets and tokenization posed a long-term threat to traditional venture capital, David O. Sacks told CNBC that they certainly would challenge VC. Venture firms seeking early investments before ICOs would have to compete with angel investors to provide real added value. Moreover, LP interests might eventually be tokenized just like other illiquid assets.
David O. Sacks also identified three major challenges facing crypto at the time: scalability, slideware (projects existing only as whitepapers or slides), and regulation. He listed some of the most promising use cases to date, including value storage, payments, crowdfunding, file storage, identity management and verification, prediction markets, custody, ownership tracking, notarization chains, provenance, and supply chain applications.
What Is David O. Sacks’ Connection to Crypto?
As early as 2018, David O. Sacks joined the advisory board of 0x, a decentralized exchange protocol. At the time, 0x also partnered with Harbor, a digital securities platform and portfolio company of Craft Ventures, which David helped incubate. Harbor offered a blockchain-powered platform for compliant fundraising, investor management, and liquidity. In February 2020, Harbor was acquired by BitGo, a digital asset custodian. In a CNBC interview, David O. Sacks noted that Harbor solved compliance issues in asset tokenization, opening vast opportunities for blockchain to bring greater liquidity and transparency to private securities.
Craft Ventures, co-founded by David O. Sacks, primarily focuses on B2B software investments and has successfully raised multiple funds. Its first fund secured $350 million. In October 2019, Craft Ventures closed its second fund with $500 million in committed capital. In November 2023, the firm raised $1.3 billion through Craft Ventures IV and Craft Ventures Growth II.
Notably, David O. Sacks led investments in Airbnb, Meta, Reddit, Slack, X, Uber, and xAI. In crypto, under David’s leadership, Craft Ventures invested in crypto asset manager Bitwise and digital securities platform Harbor. Additionally, in 2018, Craft Ventures led the seed round of DeFi protocol Set Protocol (which announced in April 2023 it would cease development and relinquish multisig ownership rights); in April 2022, co-invested with Multicoin in Hivemapper, a blockchain-based decentralized mapping network; and in February 2023, participated in funding Superplastic, a Web3-friendly entertainment company.
Also in 2018, David O. Sacks, representing Craft Ventures, announced an investment in crypto-focused venture firm Multicoin Capital. Multicoin was one of Solana’s earliest backers, leading a $20 million funding round for Solana in July 2019.
David O. Sacks is also a staunch holder of Solana. In December 2023, he clarified that he did not sell his Solana holdings following the FTX collapse and openly stated, “One of the dumbest attacks against me this year has been the claim that I dumped Solana (SOL) tokens on retail investors. If that were true, they’d all be swimming in profits by now. Congratulations to everyone holding SOL.”
Looking back two years earlier, David O. Sacks had already deeply explored Solana’s potential on his “All-In Podcast.” He mentioned that many elite figures in Silicon Valley held high hopes for Solana, believing it could potentially surpass Ethereum. Even if that full vision isn’t realized, Solana still has every capability to become the third-largest player in crypto.
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