Before stepping into his role as the Trump administration’s key advisor on artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency, David Sacks divested a substantial portion of his investments tied to digital assets.
A White House memo from Presidential Counsel David A. Warrington revealed that Sacks, along with his firm Craft Ventures, offloaded holdings in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL) before Trump’s second term commenced on January 20th.
The sell-off also included his stakes in the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW) and publicly traded companies such as Coinbase (COIN) and Robinhood (HOOD). Additionally, Sacks exited positions in private digital asset firms and withdrew from multiple crypto-focused investment funds, including those managed by Multicoin Capital and Blockchain Capital.
The document highlights that Sacks began divesting from approximately 90 venture capital funds, citing the potential for these firms to engage in crypto-related investments. Warrington stated that the total amount liquidated exceeded $200 million, with Sacks personally shedding at least $85 million in assets. This move was framed as an effort to prevent conflicts of interest in his advisory role.
“You have already taken significant steps to reduce the possibility of conflicts arising from digital asset holdings by divesting from hundreds of millions in crypto-related investments,” Warrington noted in the memo.
Despite these divestitures, Craft Ventures retains exposure to blockchain-based firms, including token custody provider BitGo, the proof-of-space and proof-of-time blockchain Chia Network, and gaming developer Dapper Labs.
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