David Sacks, the new White House AI and Crypto Czar, sold over $200 million in digital assets and related investments before taking the job.
According to a recent White House memo, Sacks personally sold at least $85 million in digital assets. His venture fund, Craft Ventures, also sold many of its digital assets and related stocks.
Sacks sold his digital assets as part of an effort to avoid potential conflicts of interest as he took on a government role that includes shaping US bitcoin and digital assets regulations.
The memo says, “You and Craft Ventures have divested over $200m of positions in the digital asset industry, of which $85m is directly attributable to you”.
David Sacks sold his digital assets like bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH) and solana (SOL).
His firm, Craft Ventures, exited investments in publicly traded companies like Coinbase (COIN) and Robinhood (HOOD). He also sold his limited partner stakes in digital-asset-focused investment firms like Multicoin Capital and Blockchain Capital.
Most of these divestments happened before President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th with some more happening in the following days. The White House memo says some holdings remain but they are less than 0.1% of Sacks’ total investments and will be sold soon.
Despite his efforts to get out of conflicts, Sacks is still being questioned by political figures, particularly Senator Elizabeth Warren.
She has asked if he still holds digital assets or if those close to him benefited from price moves. In a letter dated March 6, Warren wrote:
“Despite your public statements via X, it’s unclear when you personally divested from BTC, ETH, and SOL, when Craft Ventures divested from Bitwise, and whether people close to you held positions and sold into the recent price move.”
The timing of the sales is also being questioned. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $109,000 just before Trump’s inauguration and then dropped below $80,000 in February. Critics are saying the rapid rise and fall of prices may have played a role in Sacks’ decision.
Sacks has replied to the criticism saying his sell-off was to avoid any conflict.
His supporters, including Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, are saying Sacks is not profiting from government decisions.
The White House has also confirmed Sacks was given a limited ethics waiver so he can participate in digital assets regulatory discussions while not benefiting from policy decisions.
Sacks isn’t the only big gun in the Trump administration with digital asset ties. President Trump himself has digital asset interests including a stake in Trump Media & Technology Group which owns Truth Social.
Just days before his inauguration, Trump’s company CIC Digital LLC launched a memetoken called $TRUMP controlling 80% of the supply. The Trump family also gets 75% of the profits from a digital-asset bank called World Liberty Financial.
Since taking office, Sacks has advocated for a balanced approach to digital asset regulation. He’s suggested a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve funded through seized assets and not taxpayer money.
At the same time he’s been opposed to excessive bitcoin transaction taxes. On the All In Podcast, the host proposed a modest 0.01% tax on digital asset trades. Sacks opposed the idea, saying:
“That’s always how taxes start. They are described as being very modest. You know, when the income tax started, it only applied to like a thousand Americans, and the legislators swore up and down that it would never be applied to middle-class people.”
He added: “I don’t particularly like the idea of new taxes, even if it is promised that they won’t affect people very much. That sounds burdensome to me.”
