President Trump’s Crypto and AI Czar, David Sacks, is making a bold case for America to reclaim leadership in digital innovation — calling crypto “the industry of the future.”
Speaking alongside a16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, as well as entrepreneur Erik Torenberg, Sacks emphasized that the U.S. needs clear regulatory standards to keep crypto innovation onshore.
He criticized the Biden administration’s “regulation by enforcement” approach, arguing that under SEC Chair Gary Gensler, crypto entrepreneurs were prosecuted instead of given clear rules to follow.
“All the entrepreneurs I’ve talked to over the years say the same thing — just tell us what the rules are,” Sacks said. “During the Biden years, you had an SEC chairman who took an approach, which I guess has been called regulation through enforcement, which basically means you just get prosecuted. ”
United States as the crypto capital of the planet
Sacks said President Trump’s campaign pledge to make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the planet” and to fire Gensler resonated strongly with voters.
“He’s talked about how surprised he was at the big ovation he got at that,” Sacks noted, underscoring the growing political weight of crypto policy.
Under the Trump administration, Sacks said the goal will be to establish regulatory clarity that protects consumers while fostering innovation and competitiveness.
“Providing certainty means entrepreneurs can build here in America,” he added.
Last night on 60 Minutes, President Trump reinforced his support for crypto in the United States, saying “I only care about one thing: will we be number one in crypto.”
The discussion also touched on AI competition with China, the need for a federal crypto framework, and the role of abundant energy in powering future technologies.
Sacks positioned both crypto and AI as twin pillars of America’s technological leadership — sectors that, in his view, will define the next decade of global economic growth.
Last December, President Trump appointed David Sacks as the White House AI and Crypto Czar to shape policy in both sectors.
In his part-time role, Sacks was tasked to promote a pro-innovation, deregulatory approach to AI and develop a clear legal framework for the cryptocurrency industry.
Sacks was instrumental in crafting the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. He pushed and clarified that the new federal Bitcoin reserve to be funded using BTC already owned by the U.S. government through asset forfeitures — meaning no taxpayer cost.
Sacks said the government will hold, not sell, these assets, describing the reserve as a “digital Fort Knox.”
He added that the policy aims to prevent past mistakes where premature Bitcoin sales cost taxpayers over $17 billion in unrealized gains.
