David Sacks, Us President Donald Trump’s “Ai and Crypto Czar”, Speaks to President Trump as He Signs A Series of Executive Orders in the Oval Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 23, 2025 in washington, dc.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
The trump-tech alliance is showing its first real sign of distress. And it’s trust of crypto.
President Donald Trump Countted on Crypto Execs and Investors for a Hefty Port of His 2024 Campaign FundsHe promised to reward them handsomely if elected by slashing regulations and by turning The Us Into “The Crypto Capital of the Planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world. “
The President Got off to a Quick Start, Signing an Executive Order Calling for the establishment of a working group on digital assets and pardoning Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht. The sec also dropped Its Years-Long Probe Into Coinbase,
While there movies were lauded by the most vocal techies who are backed trump’s candidacy, over the weekend the weekend the president took it a step too far in their view. In a post on truth social on Sunday, Trump Announced The Creation of a strategic crypto reserve For the us that would include not just just bitcoin but several other digital currencies – eTher, XRPSolana’sSol token and cardano’s Ada,
For the most part, Trump’s Crypto Backers All Wanted A Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Such a move would entail using cash to buy bitcoin, which is widely viewed by crypto enthusiasts as a smart way to depart way to deploy Capital ITO A Decentralized Currence Currencies ALTERNAVE ALETERNAVE ALETERNAVE ALETERNAVE ALETERNAVE ALETERNAVE to Hard Money. As coinbase Ceo Brian Armstrong Wrote on x, bitcoin offers a “clear story as successor to gold.”
By going well beyond bitcoin, the critics say, Trump would be using us taxpayer money to buy much riskier assets that have unproven value and have the potential to Bolster the Net Worth of a SELECT FETES Who own the coins. That’s all the more problems Elon musk’s COST-Cutting Mission at the So-Called Department of Government Efficiency.
“Taxation is theft,” Wrote Joe Lonsdale, Founder of Venture Firm 8VC and A Vocal Trump Supporter, in a Post on x“It should be kept to a minimum. It’s wrong to steal my money for grift on the left; it’s also wrong to tax me for crypto bro schemes.”
David Sacks, The Venture Capitalist who was tapped By Trump to be the “White House Ai Ai and Crypto Czar,” Took Exception to Lonsdale’s comment, suggesing it’s premature to jump to jump to any conclusions. Sacks and Lonsdale are part of the same conservative circle in the tech world, with musk and drink thiel at the center.
“Nobody announced a tax or a spending program,” Sacks WroteIn response to lonsdale’s post. “Maybe you should wait to find out what’s actually being proposed.”
The White House Didn’t Respond to a request for comment.
But lonsdale was far from alone.
Naval Ravikant, A longtime tech investor and early crypto evangelist, Wrote After the announsement that, “The us taxpayer should be exit liquidity for cryptocurrencies that are decentralized in name only.” And Vinny Lingham, Creator of Blockchain Startup Civic and A Big Crypto Influencer, Wrote.
Agreement across the industry
A Major Trump Supporter and Big Name in Crypto joined the chorus on Monday. Billionaire Bitcoin Investor Tyler Winklevoss, Who Wrote Just Before The November Election That You should Vote for Trump “If you care about the future the future of crypto, free speech, Justice, Justice, Justice, Liberation, Democracy, “Came out against the President’s Crypto Reserve Plan.
“I have noting against xrp, sol, or ada but i do not think they are suitable for a strategic reserve,” Winklevoss Wrote“Only one digital asset in the world right now meets the bar and that digital asset is bitcoin.”
David Marcus, The Former Head of Facebook’s Failed Crypto Project, Sugged that the Majority of His Peers in the Crypto Community has the same view.
“Most-IF not all-f the non-conflicted industry leaders are agreing about this,” Marcus Wrote, in Reposting winklevoss’ comment.
Marcus, Who’s Now Ceo of Payments Infrastructure Startup LightSpark, Declared in July That he was “crossing the rubicon” and shifting his support to trump and away from democrats.
Anthony Pompliano, A Loud Pro-Trum Voice in Crypto Investing, Committed Over 1,500 Words in His newsletter On Monday to the topic. He says trump is willing to propose an aganda of buying risky tokens on behalf of the us trust the wrang people got to he.
“We Watched Crypto Projects, Lobbyists, and Special Interest Groups Co-Opt the President of the United States,” Pompliao Wrote. “They told the president that any crypto-Resereve should hold tokens that was’ made in America.” This pitch was the perfect trap for a president who ran on the america first ageda. “
Some of the wrath online was Directed Specifically at Sackers, Who Touted and Backed Various Cryptocurrencies as a VC Prior to joining the trump administration, and with a craump administ Investor in Crypto Index Fund Manager Bitwise,
A Cartoon Image of Us President-Elect Donald Trump with Cryptocurrency Tokens, Depicted in Front of the White House to Mark His Inauguration, Displayed at a Coinhero Store in Hong Kong, I Jan. 20, 2025.
Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Sacks Wrote in a Post on x That he sold all of His Crypto, Including Bitcoin, Ether and Sol, Before Taking on his new role and “will provide an update at the end of the ethics process.”
By late afternoon monday, crypto prices had stated a Dramatic Reversal From their weekend raly that followed trump’s announsement. Bitcoin Fell About 9%, While Etor Slid 15%. XRP and Sol Dropped even more.
The slide appeared tied to President Trump’s Confirmation of Forthcoming Tarifs, which Hammered Risky Assets Across the Board and Sent the Nasdaq Down Almost 3% at the close of trading.
There was some Voices in Crypto with Willing to Publicly Slam Trump’s Reserve Plan.
Michael Saylor, The Chairman of Strategywhich has effectively emerged as a bitcoin proxy due to its roughly $ 43 billion stash, told cnbc on mode Cryptocurrencies.
“There’s no way to interpret this other than this is bully for bitcoin and bullish for the entrance us crypto industry,” Saylor said. “I believe the best thing for the country is to move forward with an enlightened progressive policy toward digital assets.”
Jonathan Jachym, Global Head of Policy and Government Relations at Kraken, Told CNBC that the Crypto Exchange is “encountered to see that announs” and that it shows the presiding trust to Commitments. “
Even among the skeptics, trump doesnisc Backers like Lonsdale Have Been Quick to Post About Other Matters, Complimenting Actions TAKEN BY Defense Secretary PETE HEGSETH and TRUMP FOR PRESST MOGICAN DRUG CARUG CARUG CARUG CARIGE CARINLS.
Butcoming Just Six Weeks Into Trump’s Second Administration, The Reaction Shows How Quickly The Outage Machine can activate when a proposal touches the nerve of a critical group of subsequent. The Debate Adds Interest to Trump’s First White House Crypto Summit on Friday, when investors will eagerly be awaiting more details.
As sacques wrote on March 2, in his first post About the announcing of the strategic reserve, “More to come at the summit.”
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