David Sacks, President Donald Trump’s crypto and synthetic intelligence czar, got here underneath fireplace this week following allegations that he may financially profit from Trump’s announcement of a U.S. strategic crypto reserve.
The initiative, which Trump shared particulars about on Sunday, would contain the federal government holding a reserve of digital belongings, together with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, Cardano (ADA), and Solana (SOL). Critics raised issues that people throughout the administration with ties to those belongings may stand to achieve from the transfer.
Sacks, a enterprise capitalist with earlier crypto investments, shortly turned a focus of the controversy. Over the weekend and into Monday, he responded on X (previously Twitter), rejecting accusations that he had a monetary curiosity within the coverage. He said that he had divested from all of his private crypto-related holdings earlier than becoming a member of the administration, together with his stake in Multicoin Capital, a crypto-focused funding agency.
One lingering query, nevertheless, was whether or not Craft Ventures — Sacks’ enterprise capital agency — had retained its funding in Bitwise, a crypto index fund supervisor that Sacks helped fund again in 2017. Bitwise’s funding merchandise embody an ETF that holds all of the belongings talked about in Trump’s strategic reserve plan, elevating issues that it may benefit from the federal government’s crypto purchases.
On Tuesday, a supply near Craft Ventures confirmed to CoinDesk that the fund exited its place into Bitwise previous to the beginning of the President’s second administration. The Craft Ventures web site was additionally up to date on Tuesday to replicate that it had exited its Bitwise funding in January 2025.
Craft Ventures, Bitwise and Sacks have but to remark publicly on the obvious exit. The supply near Craft Ventures advised CoinDesk that the agency has not commented publicly in order to not disrupt Sacks’ authorities clearance course of, which is presently ongoing.
In his social media protection, Sacks dismissed all the controversy. “The accusation that people who find themselves already very profitable in enterprise go into authorities to make more cash is a lazy and silly narrative,” he wrote. “As I’ve discovered, serving in authorities entails substantial disruption and divestiture of 1’s enterprise pursuits.”
The controversy over Trump’s proposed reserve continues to divide the crypto neighborhood. A number of the president’s crypto supporters argue {that a} Bitcoin-only reserve could be preferable, whereas others query whether or not the federal government must be concerned in digital asset holdings in any respect — arguing that authorities intervention within the crypto house contradicts the business’s decentralized beliefs.
Battle of curiosity questions additionally proceed to swirl across the president, himself. The Trump-backed crypto startup World Liberty Monetary has a treasury of round $500 million price of crypto belongings, together with some listed in his Sunday reserve announcement.