David Sacks, a member of the PayPal Mafia and one of Silicon Valley’s most notable investors, bought Bitcoin in 2013 when it was trading for $130.
That’s over a decade before his appointment by Donald Trump as the White House AI and Crypto Czar. With Bitcoin’s price now up over 76,000% since then, David’s foresight is impossible to ignore.
Known for early stakes in companies like Meta, Airbnb, and SpaceX, David was already taking names in the tech world when he turned his attention to Bitcoin.
Bitcoin, Solana, and David’s crypto vision
David’s belief in Bitcoin wasn’t casual. Speaking to Anthony Pompliano, he explained why he saw Bitcoin as more than an investment. He compared the relationship between money and government to the historical bond between church and state.
“The Church and state used to be intrinsically linked,” he said. “Now, we think about them being separate. Bitcoin, it’s sort of this sci-fi future where you could maybe have these two things decoupled.” David saw Bitcoin as a hedge against fiat inflation and censorship.
However, Bitcoin isn’t the only crypto in his portfolio. David is also a major investor in Solana (SOL). Even after the chronicled FTX collapse in 2022 sent shockwaves through the crypto world, David held onto his SOL holdings.
He has consistently championed Solana, even predicting it could one day surpass Ethereum. On the All-In podcast in 2021, he said, “There’s smart money in Silicon Valley betting on a flipping where Solana overtakes Ethereum as the preferred platform.”
His involvement doesn’t stop there. David backs Multicoin Capital, a crypto investment firm, adding more weight to his reputation as a blockchain believer. This appointment as Crypto Czar aligns perfectly with his long-term advocacy for Bitcoin.
Alongside David, Trump has nominated Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager, as Treasury Secretary. Bessent, like David, supports crypto as a tool for freedom. He has openly stated, “The crypto economy is here to stay.”
AI players are a little uneased
Meanwhile, David’s appointment has raised eyebrows, especially among those in the AI industry. He’s been a vocal critic of excessive government regulation in tech, advocating for open-source AI models and a self-regulating industry.
But not everyone in the AI world is thrilled about his rise to power—Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, might have the most to worry about.
David hasn’t held back his opinions on OpenAI. In October, he joined Mark Cuban on the All-In podcast to criticize OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit model. OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab, with Elon Musk as one of its early backers, putting in $50 million.
However, under Altman’s leadership, the company created a for-profit arm to support its operations. Elon, now running his own AI company, xAI, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming the pivot went against the original mission.
David sided with Elon, accusing OpenAI of misleading investors. He described the transition as a move from “nonprofit philanthropy to piranha, for-profit company.” Cuban echoed these concerns, saying, “When people screw over investors, it always comes back. Karma is a b*tch in business.”
Despite the criticism, Altman publicly congratulated David on his appointment, a post that Elon reacted to with a sarcastic emoji.
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