Key Takeaways
David Sacks has strongly denied allegations of financial misconduct, describing them as slander and defamation. He sold more than $200 million in cryptocurrency holdings before taking on his consulting role.
Sacks recently responded to accusations that he used his position to manipulate the cryptocurrency market for personal gain. Speaking on The All-In Podcast, he dismissed these claims as baseless.
“People immediately started saying that I was involved in a scheme to pump up my own holdings or to create liquidity for myself,” Sacks said, emphasizing the seriousness of these allegations, as they amount to accusations of criminal activity.
Sacks reiterated that he had divested all of his cryptocurrency holdings before joining the administration in order to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. He had previously confirmed that he had sold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
“When it comes to cryptocurrency, market fluctuations are inevitable,” he explained. “You never want someone to be able to point to one of those fluctuations and claim that the cryptocurrencies benefited from it, creating a conspiracy theory, which is essentially what happened.”
Sacks revealed that he and his venture firm Kraft had liquidated approximately $200 million in cryptocurrency assets, with $85 million personally attributable to him.
“We took care of this before day one, paid taxes on it, and made it clear that there would be no conflict,” he stated. However, the scrutiny then shifted, with people claiming that even without direct ownership, he still had investments in cryptocurrency funds.
Sacks clarified that in addition to his direct cryptocurrency holdings, he had also divested from multiple cryptocurrency-focused investment funds, including Bitwise, Multicoin Capital, and Blockchain Capital.
“At this point, I think they have essentially given up on this narrative,” Sacks said. According to Jason Calacanis, who manages one of the divested funds, the process requires selling fund interests at discounts of up to 50% or 25%, potentially resulting in significant financial losses for Sacks.
Sacks, who is serving as the crypto czar under the Trump administration, dismissed the idea that he sought financial gain through his role. He revealed that he is taking on an unpaid consulting role in the administration.
Sacks criticized the assumption that wealthy individuals enter government for financial gain, calling it “lazy and stupid.”
“It’s a lazy and stupid narrative to say that the reason why someone who is already successful in business goes into government is to somehow make more money. I was making money before,” he said. “This involves a significant disruption of my business interests.”
Sacks reiterated that his divestments were necessary to avoid any ethical concerns, even if it meant incurring substantial financial losses.
“When you divest, you either have to pay taxes or accept a significant discount. It costs you money,” he said. “So it’s just a lazy narrative that people create. But it has no truth to it.”
Sacks has faced public scrutiny over allegations of potential conflicts of interest related to his role as the crypto and AI czar under the Trump administration. Critics, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, have expressed concerns that Sacks could influence Trump’s selection of alternative cryptocurrencies for the US crypto reserve and personally benefit from those choices, which include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, and XRP.
The President eventually signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a US digital asset stockpile using legal forfeiture.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Sacks clarified that Trump mentioned XRP, SOL, and ADA because they were among the top five cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
