White House crypto advisor David Sacks clarifies crypto sale was a required divestment, not a dump

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 said he did not dump his digital assets, as the headline suggested. Instead, he had to divest because government ethics rules required him to do so 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 made him the crypto czar, with some claiming that his influence is responsible for the inclusion of some 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 Bitwise 10 Crypto Index fund. Nevertheless, the headline painted it as a dump, prompting Sacks’ reaction.

Following Sacks’ statement, many in the crypto community also acknowledged the media’s bias against the industry. Bankless HQ co-founder David Hoffman noted that the bias is not particular to the media but merely reflects how most of society sees crypto.

He explained the reason for this saying:

“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 also agree, including Moonpay executive Keith Grossman, who noted that people’s perception of value for what they do not 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 the five-year legal battle over the status of XRP.

Binance CZ says the media do not care about ethics

Binance founder and ex-CEO Changpeng Zhao also agreed with Sacks’ statement, noting that the media only sells clicks, not ethics. Zhao has an axe to grind with the media after the Wall Street Journal report claimed that the Trump family is discussing buying a stake in Binance US in exchange for granting Zhao a pardon.

Zhao denied this claim, noting that no such discussions occurred and that over 20 people told him that the WSJ and Bloomberg contacted them to confirm whether he had made a deal for a pardon. The former Binance CEO believes the article targets Trump and the US administration for embracing crypto.

He said:

“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 he would criticize media outlets. He also referred to an apology post from Bloomberg in July 2024 after he sued them for defamation over a piece they wrote in July 2022. In the apology, Bloomberg admitted on its Hong Kong website that its headline was false and baseless.

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