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Author: Tom Mitchelhill, CoinTelegraph; Compiled by: Tao Zhu, Bitchain Vision
Donald Trump has appointed former college football player Bo Hines as executive director of the new “crypto committee” in the new administration.
The U.S. president-elect said in a Dec. 22 post on its social media platform Truth Social that Hines — the unsuccessful U.S. House Republican candidate in 2022 — will become executive director of the president’s crypto-asset advisory board.
Trump added that the new advisory panel — known as the “crypto committee” — will be led by his selected crypto and artificial intelligence tsar David Sachs.
“In his new role, Hines will work with David to promote innovation and growth in the crypto assets space while ensuring industry leaders have the resources they need to succeed,” Trump wrote.
In 2022, Hines ran for the U.S. House seat in North Carolina as a Republican candidate, but lost to Democratic rival Willie Nickel by a narrow margin.
Hines and several other Republican candidates received funding from the American Dream Federal Action Super Political Action Committee and other PACs for Supporting Crypto.
Former FTX CEO Ryan Salam — currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for crimes such as illegal political donations — reportedly donated $13.4 million to Republican candidates, including Hines.
Trump appointed a16z general partner as senior AI consultant
Trump also announced the appointment of former Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) general partner Sriram Krishnan as senior AI policy adviser to the new committee.
“I am honored to serve the country and work closely with David Sacks to ensure that the U.S. continues to maintain its leadership in the field of artificial intelligence,” Krishnan wrote in response to his appointment on X.
These appointments reflect Trump’s continued support for the cryptocurrency industry.During his presidential campaign, he promised to make the United States “the capital of the world of cryptocurrencies”, for which he raised millions of dollars from cryptocurrency industry executives.
He appointed other cryptocurrency supporters as key advisers, including billionaire Elon Musk.
On December 4, Trump nominated former SEC member Paul Atkins, a businessman who supports cryptocurrencies, as chairman of the agency, and industry executives hope the move will undermine regulatory enforcement actions on the cryptocurrency industry.
