The White House Crypto Czar: Trump’s Election Has Helped Bitcoin Far More than the Dollar
As the dollar surged immediately after Trump’s election win, reports attributed it to Trump’s expected business-friendly climate (as if chaos helps businesses thrive), perhaps even to Trump’s populist bluster about tariffs targeting competing state currencies.
More recently and dramatically, Bitcoin has surged as Trump has named one after another crypto enthusiast to key posts, most notably Paul Atkins to SEC Chair.
Donald Trump’s win has accompanied a 3.5% boost in the dollar. His win has contributed to a 53% surge in Bitcoin.
And all that was before his announcement that David Sacks would be his White House crypto and AI “czar,” as well as the head of Trump’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology.
The press coverage of the pick is a tiny bit more skeptical than Trump’s own announcement. Trump emphasized the success of Sacks’ All-In podcast.
In addition to his fundraising for Trump, news outlets noted that Sacks refused to take any position that would require him to step down from his own VC fund and will be hired under a designation that does not subject him to public financial disclosure rules. A few even mentioned his long ties to Peter Thiel.
But they left out two other important details.
First, Sacks is an unusually enthusiastic and unashamedly stupid Russophile. He parrots Putin’s propaganda even more dumbly than Tucker Carlson.
Second, Sacks played a huge role in contributing to a run on Silicon Valley Bank and then wailing for a bailout. He has a very recent history of privatizing the risk his reckless policies presents.
These twin developments — the rise of the dollar and the far more dramatic surge of Bitcoin — stem from two parallel Trump instincts. His defense of the dollar as reserve currency stems from his genuinely held but incompetently implemented belief in America’s Greatness™.
But his enthusiastic embrace of cryptocurrency arises from his corruption.
The self-dealing behind Trump’s World Liberty Financial was clear from the start. It was made more obvious when Justin Sun bought $30 million in World Liberty crypto tokens last month, effectively handing the newly elected President $18 million.
On November 25, Sun purchased $30 million in crypto tokens from World Liberty Financial, a new crypto venture backed by President-elect Donald Trump. Sun said his company, TRON, was committed to “making America great again.”
World Liberty Financial planned to sell $300 million worth of crypto tokens, known as WLF, which would value the new company at $1.5 billion. But, before Sun’s $30 million purchase, it appeared to be a bust, with only $22 million in tokens sold. Sun now owns more than 55% of purchased tokens.Sun’s decision to buy $30 million in WLF tokens has direct and immediate financial benefits for Trump. A filing by the company in October revealed that “$30 million of initial net protocol revenues” will be “held in a reserve… to cover operating expenses, indemnities, and obligations.” After the reserve is met, a company owned by Donald Trump, DT Marks DEFI LLC, will receive “75% of the net protocol revenues.”So before Sun’s purchase, Trump was entitled to nothing because the reserve had not been met. But Sun’s purchase covered the entire reserve, so now Trump is entitled to 75% of the revenues from all other tokens purchased. As of December 1, there have been $24 million WLF tokens sold, netting Trump $18 million.
All this has the potential to go horribly wrong.
And predictably so. Back in July — after Sacks had brokered the marriage between Musk and Trump but long before Trump rolled out his own crypto scam — Mark Cuban had this to say about the alliance.
And while I don’t ascribe to everything in this more ambitious prediction from Dave Troy from 2022, some have been predicting this confluence of events even longer.
One thrust of Trump’s transition plans — those stemming from his kneejerk parochialism — have focused on making The Dollar Great.
A just as significant thrust — granting reckless support for bubble cryptocurrency — arises from his venality.
With Trump, it’s generally safe to bet his greed will win out over care for anyone but himself.
Update: Added the caveat “public” before financial disclosure. See Kathleen Clark’s thread for an explanation.