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Zenefits CEO David Sacks speaks at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Calif.
Paul Chinn | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images
Venture investor and podcaster David Sacks will join the Trump administration as the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar,” President-elect Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Thursday.
Sacks will guide the administration’s policies for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, Trump wrote. Some of that work includes creating a legal framework for crypto, as well as leading a presidential council of advisors on science and technology.
“David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas,” Trump wrote. “He will safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship.”
The appointment signals that the second Trump administration is rewarding Silicon Valley figures who supported his campaign. It also indicates that the administration will push for policies that cryptocurrency entrepreneurs generally support.
Sacks became a major Trump booster earlier this year, hosting a fundraiser for the then-Republican nominee at his San Francisco mansion. Tickets sold for $50,000 a head, with a $300,000 tier that included perks like a photo with Trump.
It was a stark change of tone for Sacks, who was sharply critical of Trump after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Sacks said on an episode of his All-In podcast soon after that Trump was “clearly” responsible for the events of Jan. 6, and that he had “disqualified himself from being a candidate at a national level.”
In July, Sacks spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Sacks is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur who sold Yammer, to Microsoft for $1.2 billion in 2012. He’s also affiliated with the “PayPal mafia,” an unofficial club of prominent technology figures and investors, including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, who worked at PayPal in the 1990s.
In recent years, Sacks has been best known for hosting the All-In podcast alongside fellow investors Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, and David Friedberg. In his post, Trump called it the “top podcast in Tech, where he and his friends discuss economic, political and social issues.”