The technology and crypto industries see a bright future ahead in the US, as the President-elect, Donald Trump, announced David Sacks as the leader of the AI and crypto sectors in the US.

This is a new position created by Trump which highlights his intent to keep his campaign promises and boost the rapidly developing industries in the country.

But who exactly is David Sacks, and what’s his experience in tech and crypto?

Technology Industry Experience

A Bloomberg article dives deep into Sacks’s experience in the tech industry. As Trump revealed in his official announcement, Sacks is a venture capitalist, and part of Silicon Valley’s “PayPal Mafia.”

He first made waves in the tech industry when he became the COO of PayPal. The payment services company’s founders in the late 1990s included tech mogul Elon Musk and investor Peter Thiel.

The “PayPal Mafia” is a group of former PayPal employees and founders, including Sacks (Yammer founder), Musk (who founded SpaceX, and Tesla), Thiel (who founded Palantir Technologies), Max Levchin (founder of Slide, Affirm), and others.

Official notes reveal that Sacks’s “angel investments” include Facebook, Uber, SpaceX, Palantir, and Airbnb, among others.

After PayPal was sold to eBay in 2002, Sacks founded Yammer, which was later bought by Microsoft in 2021 for $1.12 billion.

Sacks founded his venture capital firm, Craft Ventures, in 2017, together with Bill Lee, an American businessman and politician, and invested in some of Musk’s businesses, including SpaceX.

Bloomberg noted that, in a recent episode of the All-In Podcast, Sacks mentioned a “key man” clause in the agreements of his venture firm’s legal documents would likely prevent him from taking a full-time position, but he could consider an advisory role in the new administration.

Once Sacks becomes the leader of AI and crypto under Trump’s 2025 administration, he will reportedly not leave Craft Ventures.

In 2021, Sacks and his former Craft colleague, Evan Owen, co-founded Glue – a workspace chat company. Its product is an AI tool that can be invoked from specific chats on platforms including Google Meet and Zoom.

The tool allows employees to get AI assistance during conversations and it went live to the public in May 2024.

As a future leader in the AI and crypto sectors in the US, Sacks will use his crypto knowledge and experience to support the growing industry in the country.

Crypto Experience and Investments

Bitwise and BitGo Investments

Sacks’ Craft Ventures company is mainly known for enterprise software investments, but it also made a few crypto investments including in BitGo, a crypto trust and security company headquartered in California, and Bitwise, the crypto index fund manager headquartered in Chicago.

Support for the FIT21 Bill

During an episode of All-In Podcast, Sacks recently praised a bill on crypto regulation – The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act approved by the US House earlier this year.

The FIT21 bill was designed to establish legal guidelines for the crypto industry and advancements toward responsible innovation. Bloomberg also highlighted that the FIT21 bill would regulate certain types of digital assets as a commodity, regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Sacks said in the November episode of the podcast that the crypto industry wants clarity regarding when a digital asset is a commodity, and it also wants commodities to be governed by the CFTC.

Support for the New SEC Administration

He also addressed the previous SEC administration under Gary Gensler, noting that his time at the agency “terrified” crypto companies, as quoted by Bloomberg.

These days are about to be over as Trump revealed his nomination for the new SEC Chair, Paul Atkins – a move that boosted confidence in the crypto industry, sending BTC above $100.000 for the first time in history.

Investment in Multicoin

Sacks’ Craft Ventures company also invested in Multicoin, as reported by Reuters press agency at the time. Multicoin is an investment firm founded in 2017 that invests in crypto and blockchain companies.

In an official statement, Sacks addressed the various reasons for investing in Multicoin.

He said that crypto is a unique asset class that requires investors to mix the skills of a venture capitalist and a hedge fund. Investors have to evaluate the team, technology, market size, competitive dynamics, and the go-to-market.

He also addressed the volatility and constantly flowing new information in the market – challenges that create the opportunity for an investment strategy that is actively managed, and driven by long-term thinking.

Sacks mentioned Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain at Multicoin, saying they are among the smartest, hardest-working, and most well-informed investors in the crypto space, with impressive high-quality analysis capabilities.

He noted that their work contributed to a greater understanding of important concepts including:

• Token velocity
• Valuations
• Trade-offs in distributed blockchain systems

This year, in September, Multicoin led a $10 million series A financing round in Permissionless Labs with Solana Ventures. Permissionless Labs is a core contributor to Pipe Network, a permissionless content delivery network on Solana.

In an All-In Podcast episode, Sacks said that Solana was not a direct investment for Craft Ventures as it invested $1 million in Multicoin in 2017 when it realized that crypto was becoming a full-time job for the firm.

He also stated that Craft Ventures is an indirect beneficiary of Solana’s surge, addressing the “flippening” which could see Solana overtaking Ethereum eventually.

Advisor to the 0x Protocol

0x, a prominent DEX, welcomed Sacks to their advisory board in 2020. In their official notes, 0x said their team had been infused with new talent via a strategic partnership with Harbor.

Harbor is a platform that functions as an aid to companies wishing to tokenize their products. 0x platform functions as a DEX on Ethereum.

Sacks is also the founding Chairman of Harbor.

Sacks’ AI and Crypto Leadership

Under the new Trump administration, Sacks is expected to lead a new policy for AI and crypto in the US. These are two essential sectors in the country that recorded enormous development in the past years.

Crypto saw its most recent boom in the US following the launch of Bitcoin ETFs at the beginning of 2024, and the entire industry benefitted from Trump’s continuous support throughout the year.

The main proof lies in the bullish crypto market and Bitcoin’s price which continued to reach new ATHs since Trump was elected President of the US following the November 5 elections.

Regarding the AI sector, Sacks would help Trump boost the emerging technology that has exploded in recent years, as Bloomberg highlights. He will reportedly be at the forefront lines in determining how the federal government adopts AI and regulates its use.

AI Advantages in US Sectors

AI has enormous advantages in a vast array of sectors concerning national security, privacy, and jobs, but it also poses risks if it lacks proper regulation.

Bloomberg reminded readers that during his first term, Trump signed executive orders that sought to maintain the US leadership in technology and directed the federal government to prioritize AI in research and development spending.

This year, the Republican Party’s platform vowed to repeal the Biden Administration order which “hinders AI innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology.”

The notes of the document begin with “A Return to Common Sense”, revealing 20 important measures to put the US back on track to normality.

These include issues about sealing the border, ending inflation, making America the dominant energy producer, defending the Constitution, stopping outsourcing, preventing WWIII, ending the weaponizing of the government against its people, rebuilding the cities, strengthening the military, protecting social security, and more.

Sacks will probably also work with Musk, an essential player in the AI space. Like Musk, Sacks will be a special government employee, and he can serve a maximum of 130 days per year, with or without compensation, Bloomberg notes.

Trump’s choice for the new SEC Chair, the upcoming implementation of DOGE (Dept. of Government Efficiency), and the latest Administration of AI and Crypto represent strong proof of the upcoming golden era for crypto and technology in the US.