A White House memo said that before David Sacks became the White House AI and crypto czar, he and his venture capital firm sold over $200 million worth of crypto and crypto-related stocks.
The March 5 memo stated that “You and Craft Ventures sold over $200 million from the digital asset industry, of which $85 million is directly attributable to you.”
The memo said that “significant steps” were taken to lower the chances of potential conflicts of interest before Sacks started his job as the White House’s AI and crypto czar. A significant aspect of his role involves contributing to the development of the legal framework for the crypto industry.
Sacks Sold Crypto Before Trump Took Office
Before Trump’s inauguration on January 20, Sacks offloaded all the “liquid cryptocurrency” in his portfolio as well as the portfolio of Craft Ventures, the investment firm he co-founded in 2017. This included Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana holdings.
Since Trump took office, the crypto market has seen a major decline, along with the rest of the market. Many people blame Trump’s proposed tariffs and the uncertainty over US interest rates.
Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $109,000 just hours before Trump took oath as the 47th US president. However, on Feb. 27, it fell below $80,000, erasing all post-election gains. CoinMarketCap data shows that Bitcoin is trading at $84,155 at the time of this writing.
Sacks sold his shares in Coinbase (COIN), Robinhood (HOOD), and other publicly traded crypto-related companies. He also divested from publicly traded crypto-related firms.
He also sold his limited partner share in Multichain Capital, a venture capital firm that focuses on Solana, and Blockchain Capital, a venture capital firm that focuses on crypto. At the same time, Craft Ventures also sold its holdings in Bitwise Asset Management and Multichain Capital.
Warren Asks for Proof That Sacks Has No Crypto
The memorandum dates one day before Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren urged Sacks in a March 6 letter to show he no longer owns any digital assets. This was in response to Sacks’ X post claiming he sold all of his crypto.
“Despite your public statements on X, it is yet unknown exactly when you sold BTC, ETH, and SOL, when Craft Ventures divested from Bitwise, and whether those close to you may have held positions and sold into the recent price surge,” Warren said.
Since taking on the White House crypto role, Sacks has been a strong voice for many issues in the crypto industry, such as how important it is to have a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and not overtax it.
On a recent episode of the All In Podcast, host Jason Calacanis suggested that every cryptocurrency transaction should be taxed by 0.01%. Sacks spoke out against this idea.
“That’s always how taxes start.” “People say they are very modest,” Sacks stated.
“You know, when the income tax started, it only affected about a thousand Americans. Lawmakers swore that it would never affect middle-class people,” Sacks said.
