David Sacks along with his venture capital firm liquidated more than $200 million in cryptocurrency and associated stocks prior to initiating his position as the White House AI and cryptocurrency czar, as revealed in a White House memorandum.
“You and Craft Ventures have offloaded over $200 million of assets connected to the digital currency sector, of which $85 million is directly linked to you,” stated the memorandum dated March 5.
Crypto liquidation to avert conflict of interest
The memorandum indicated that “substantial measures” were undertaken to mitigate possible conflicts of interest before Sacks embarked on his role as the White House AI and cryptocurrency czar — a significant aspect of which involves assisting in the establishment of a regulatory framework for the crypto sector.
Sacks relinquished all the “liquid cryptocurrency” from his holdings, along with Craft Ventures’ assets — the investment firm he co-founded in 2017 — which included investments in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL) ahead of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
The memorandum detailed which cryptocurrencies and crypto stocks David Sacks liquidated prior to Trump’s inauguration. Source: The White House
Following Trump’s inauguration, the cryptocurrency market experienced a significant downturn amid a wider market decline, with many attributing the blame to Trump’s proposed tariffs and uncertainty regarding US interest rates.
While Bitcoin reached a new all-time peak of $109,000 just hours before Trump took the oath as the 47th US president, it recently fell below $80,000 on Feb. 27, eliminating all gains from after the election. As of the publication date, Bitcoin trades at $84,155, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Sacks also divested interests in publicly traded companies related to cryptocurrencies, including Coinbase (COIN), Robinhood (HOOD), and stakes in private digital asset firms.
Moreover, he sold his limited partner stake in Solana-centric Multichain Capital and the cryptocurrency-focused venture capital firm Blockchain Capital. Concurrently, Craft Ventures disposed of its shares in Multichain Capital and Bitwise Asset Management.
Sen. Warren pressured Sacks to demonstrate he no longer possesses crypto
The memorandum is dated one day before Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren requested Sacks in a March 6 letter to confirm that he no longer holds any digital assets after his statement in an X post indicating he had sold all his cryptocurrency.
“In spite of your public declarations via X, it remains ambiguous exactly when you personally divested from BTC, ETH, and SOL, when Craft Ventures withdrew from Bitwise, and whether individuals in your circle ‘may have retained positions and sold during the recent price surge,” Warren stated.
Since Sacks took on the White House cryptocurrency role, he has been a vocal proponent on various matters concerning the crypto industry, addressing topics such as the necessity of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and avoiding excessive taxation of the crypto sector.
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Sacks has recently dismissed the concept of taxes on cryptocurrency transactions during an episode of the All In Podcast, after host Jason Calacanis suggested instituting a 0.01% tax on every crypto transaction.
“That’s typically how taxes originate. They are presented as being quite small,” Sacks remarked.
“You know, when the income tax was first enacted, it was only applicable to about a thousand Americans, and the legislators assured everyone that it would never affect the middle class,” Sacks further elaborated.
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