US President elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he has appointed David O. Sacks, former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of PayPal, as the White House's head of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency affairs.
Trump posted on his social media website Truth Social, saying that in this important role, David will guide the government's policies on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, which are crucial to America's future competitiveness. David will strive to make the United States a global leader in these two fields.
Specifically, Trump stated, "He will defend online freedom of speech and guide us away from bias and censorship by large tech companies. He will work to establish a legal framework so that the encryption industry can achieve the clarity it has always demanded and thrive in the United States
It is understood that Sachs, as the founding Chief Operating Officer of the American payment platform PayPal, played a key role in shaping the early fintech industry. His latest appointment marks the first time that the US federal government has a position specifically responsible for cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence policies.
In addition, Sachs also served as the CEO of software company Zenefits and founded the social networking platform YAML for enterprise users. He also co founded the venture capital fund Craft Ventures in 2017 and is currently one of the hosts of the venture capital podcast All In.
Trump added, "David will also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology
In recent days, Trump has been taking a series of actions in supporting the cryptocurrency industry. On Wednesday Eastern Time, US President elect Trump appointed Paul Atkins as the next Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Due to Atkins' long-standing support for the cryptocurrency industry, Bitcoin rose above the $100000 mark, although it later fell sharply.
This also indicates that Trump is constantly fulfilling his campaign promises. He had previously promised to turn the United States into a global cryptocurrency capital and supported the idea of establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Specifically, he proposed that the federal government retain ownership of its Bitcoin, which is estimated to be around 200000 and accumulated after asset seizures. Some of Trump's allies are calling for further expansion of this scale and using the assumed appreciation over time to help reduce national debt.
Senator Cynthia Lummis suggested that the government could purchase more Bitcoin by selling gold certificates held by the Federal Reserve.
Although the price of Bitcoin has fallen sharply, it does not affect the bullish sentiment on Wall Street. Wall Street investment bank Bernstein stated on Thursday that Bitcoin will eventually replace gold as the primary "store of value" asset in the new era over the next decade, and become a permanent component of institutional multi asset allocation and a standard for corporate financial management.
The bank, like Jeff Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered Bank, expects the price of Bitcoin to reach $200000 by the end of 2025.