Trump Names VC Investor Sacks White House AI, Crypto Czar

President-elect Donald Trump has appointed venture investor and podcaster David Sacks as the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar,” indicating that his second administration will focus on the hot technology and cryptocurrencies.

Trump said on his Truth Social platform Thursday night that Sacks, the co-host of the popular “All-In” podcast, will “guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness.”

According to The New York Times, Sacks is a close friend of Trump ally and Tesla (TSLA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk, and has been a proponent of looser regulation on both cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI). The announcement came a day after bitcoin (BTCUSD) surpassed $100,000 on investor expectations of a friendlier White House regime toward crypto, and AI-focused stocks like chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) have propelled this year’s record rally in U.S. markets.

“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,” Trump wrote. “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.”

Sacks was PayPal Holdings’ (PYPL) Chief Operating Officer (COO) at its founding when Musk was the payments company’s biggest shareholder. Sacks later sold Yammer, his enterprise software company, to Microsoft for $1.2 billion in 2012 and then set up venture capital firm Craft Ventures.