Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were on Capitol Hill on Thursday to promote a new commission they are leading on behalf of President-elect Donald Trump to cut what they see as government waste. The group is dubbed the “Department of Government Efficiency” — or DOGE, for short — though it is not actually a government department. Trump, meanwhile, announced Thursday night that he plans to appoint venture capitalist David Sacks to serve as a White House czar focused on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.
President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday night that he plans to appoint venture capitalist David Sacks to serve as a White House czar focused on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.
“I am pleased to announce that David O. Sacks will be the ‘White House A.I. & Crypto Czar,’” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. “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.”
Trump said Sacks will also lead the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Sacks, a libertarian-leaning podcast host and tech investor, previously served as the chief operating officer of PayPal. He’s part of a group known as the “PayPal Mafia” — composed of early PayPal employees, which includes the likes of Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Sacks supported candidates running against Trump, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vivek Ramaswamy. Sacks also privately told associates that he did not believe in Trump’s election fraud crusade. But over the spring, Sacks began publicly praising Trump and later that summer, he delivered remarks at the Republican National Convention.
In his czar role, Trump wrote that Sacks would work to “safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship.” The president-elect also said Sacks would create “a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the U.S.”
