White House AI and Crypto Czar Criticizes Media

White House AI and Crypto czar David Sacks has criticized the media’s portrayal of cryptocurrency after a recent headline claimed he dumped his crypto assets. In a post on X, he noted that the headline claiming Sacks has dumped Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana does not accurately reflect what happened.

Sacks stated that he did not dump his digital assets, as the headline suggested. Instead, he had to divest due to government ethics rules after being appointed by the president.

He said:
> “I did not ‘dump’ my cryptocurrency; I divested it. Obviously I would have preferred not to, but government ethics rules required it. It’s an honor to serve President Trump and the American people.”

Concerns about Sack’s crypto exposure have grown since Trump appointed him as the crypto czar, with some claiming his influence led to the inclusion of certain altcoins in the proposed US digital assets stockpile. However, a recent White House memo shows that Sacks liquidated over $200 million worth of crypto assets just before Trump was sworn in as president.

His firm, Craft Ventures, also sold its crypto-related stocks and funds, including Coinbase (COIN), Robinhood (HOOD), and the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index fund. Nevertheless, the headline painted it as a dump, prompting Sacks’ reaction.

Following Sacks’ statement, many in the crypto community acknowledged the media’s bias against the industry. Bankless HQ co-founder David Hoffman noted that the bias is not specific to the media but reflects society’s general perspective on crypto.

He explained:
> “Most people are crypto-less and don’t want crypto to do well, because they don’t want to hold cognitive dissonance about making any wealth in crypto. Media is titling headlines to cater to this need.”

Others agree, including Moonpay executive Keith Grossman, who noted that people’s perception of value for what they don’t understand is usually zero.

Meanwhile, the regulatory atmosphere for crypto in the US has continued to improve despite the media’s perception. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently dropped its biggest crypto case against Ripple, ending a five-year legal battle over the status of XRP.

Binance CZ on Media Ethics

Binance founder and ex-CEO Changpeng Zhao also agreed with Sacks, stating that the media only sells clicks, not ethics. Zhao, who has a contentious relationship with the media, responded to a claim made by the Wall Street Journal about discussions between the Trump family and himself regarding a Binance US stake in exchange for a pardon.

Zhao denied this claim and noted that over 20 people informed him that WSJ and Bloomberg contacted them to validate whether he had made a deal for a pardon. He believes the article targets Trump and the US administration for their crypto stance.

He remarked:
> “Feels like the article is motivated as an attack on the President and crypto, and the residual forces of the ‘war on crypto’ from the last administration are still at work.”

Interestingly, this is not the first time Zhao has criticized media outlets. He referred to an apology post from Bloomberg in July 2024, after suing them for defamation over a piece from July 2022. In the apology, Bloomberg admitted its Hong Kong website published a false and baseless headline.