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Trump Appoints Former PayPal Exec David Sacks as AI and Crypto Czar

US businessman David Sacks speaks during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024 (AFP).
US businessman David Sacks speaks during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024 (AFP).
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Trump Appoints Former PayPal Exec David Sacks as AI and Crypto Czar

US businessman David Sacks speaks during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024 (AFP).
US businessman David Sacks speaks during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024 (AFP).

US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday said he was appointing former PayPal Chief Operating Officer David Sacks as his "White House A.I. & Crypto Czar," another step towards overhauling US policy.
"He will work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the US," Trump said in a post on his social-media site Truth Social, without saying whether "czar" was an official title.
The crypto czar and other officials in Trump's incoming administration such as the chairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission are expected to reshape US policy on digital currency along with a newly created crypto advisory council.
Trump's tech backers generally want to see minimal regulation around artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, saying Washington would throttle growing innovative sectors with excessive rules.
Elad Gil, an entrepreneur who has invested in companies such as Airbnb and the cryptocurrency platform Coinbase, called the choice of Sacks a "strong move" in a post on X. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on X, "congrats to czar @DavidSacks!"
"Sacks will likely have a light touch on regulation, but not without some guardrails," Steve Jang, founder of Kindred Ventures, told Reuters. Jang has co-invested with Sacks in both cryptocurrency and AI startups.
He predicted that Sacks will prioritize regulating how AI is used in certain critical applications instead of focusing on regulating the development of the AI models themselves. This distinction was a key point of contention for Silicon Valley investors who vehemently opposed California's unsuccessful SB 1047 bill, which sought to regulate AI model development.
Trump announced on Wednesday that he was nominating prominent Washington lawyer and crypto advocate Paul Atkins to lead the SEC, in a move celebrated by the industry.
Trump - who once labeled crypto a scam - embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet" and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.
Bitcoin broke $100,000 for the first time on Wednesday night, a milestone hailed even by skeptics as a coming-of-age for digital assets as investors bet on a friendly US administration to cement the place of cryptocurrencies in financial markets.
Matthew Dibb, chief investment officer at cryptocurrency asset manager Astronaut Capital, described the news as extremely bullish. "David has had somewhat of a hands-on approach to crypto over the years, at times holding coins such as solana. He appears to be a lot more technically and commercially competent regarding crypto than most would think," Dibb said.
Born in South Africa, Sacks, 52, is a co-founder of venture capital firm Craft Ventures and an early leader of PayPal, a payment processing firm that was acquired by eBay in 2002.
Sacks is considered a member of the "PayPal Mafia" of former workers and executives at the digital finance firm that includes prominent Trump supporters Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.
Musk, the Tesla CEO who leads artificial intelligence startup xAI, is a crypto fan and was appointed by Trump as co-lead of the new Department of Government Efficiency. The advisory board to streamline government is nicknamed DOGE, the name of a cryptocurrency.
Sacks is also a former chief executive of software company Zenefits and founded Yammer, a social network for enterprise users.
He was an early evangelist of cryptocurrencies, telling CNBC in a 2017 interview that he believed the rise of bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, was revolutionizing the internet.
"It feels like we are witnessing the birth of a new kind of web. Some people have called it the decentralized web or the internet of money," he said.
Trump said Sacks will also lead a White House advisory council on science and technology.

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World

Netanyahu Vows to Eliminate Iran Threat ‘Once and for All’

10 November 2026, Israel, Jerusalem: Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech on the sidelines of the opening session of the new Knesset. (dpa)
10 November 2026, Israel, Jerusalem: Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech on the sidelines of the opening session of the new Knesset. (dpa)
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Netanyahu Vows to Eliminate Iran Threat ‘Once and for All’

10 November 2026, Israel, Jerusalem: Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech on the sidelines of the opening session of the new Knesset. (dpa)
10 November 2026, Israel, Jerusalem: Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech on the sidelines of the opening session of the new Knesset. (dpa)

Israel's caretaker prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday reiterated his calls for a national unity government with his opponent Gadi Eisenkot, as well as his vow to eliminate the threat from Iran.

A meeting with Eisenkot on Thursday "only strengthened the conviction that it is essential to form a national unity government" to guarantee Israel's security, Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding that such a government could "eliminate the Iranian threat once and for all".

World

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Escalates Criticism of SpaceX Over Speed Caps

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen November 10, 2026. (AFP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen November 10, 2026. (AFP)
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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Escalates Criticism of SpaceX Over Speed Caps

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen November 10, 2026. (AFP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen November 10, 2026. (AFP)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ‌escalated his criticism of SpaceX on Saturday, saying speed restrictions on its military-grade Starshield satellite terminals had dangerous political implications and undermined critical air defenses.

Zelenskiy said Starshield terminals operating in temporarily Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine had been limited to a maximum speed of 161 kph for the past five days, hampering Ukraine's military capabilities.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has raised the issue with SpaceX at the ‌institutional level, ‌Zelenskiy said.

"The restrictions have now ‌been ⁠in place for ⁠five days. They say it is some kind of technical issue. We do not believe that is the case," Zelenskiy told reporters in remarks released by his office on Saturday.

"If you impose restrictions there, you are already partially recognizing the temporarily ⁠occupied territories as not ours. And ‌that is why I ‌believe we have the right to raise this ‌issue and restore the speed – so that there ‌are no restrictions at all."

Zelenskiy said the speed restrictions made it more difficult for Ukrainian air defense units to intercept Russian jet-powered drones and made Ukrainian cities ‌more vulnerable. He said he had ordered his top military and foreign ministry ⁠officials ⁠to address the issue and seek clarification.

SpaceX has pushed back against the allegations, denying that it introduced new restrictions or made any changes to its satellite operations.

It is the second such outage in recent weeks. In mid-October, Ukrainian officials said that SpaceX limited the speed of Starlink and its Starshield communication systems to about 160 kph (100 mph) amid tensions with US President Donald Trump's administration over Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries. Service was then restored on October 24.

World

UN Official Urges Iran, US to Let Fertilizers Through Hormuz Strait

Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services), and coordinator of the UN Strait of Hormuz Task Force established by the UN Secretary-General, speaks during an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the 31st United Climate Change Conference (COP31), at the media center located on the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya on November 14, 2026. (AFP)
Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services), and coordinator of the UN Strait of Hormuz Task Force established by the UN Secretary-General, speaks during an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the 31st United Climate Change Conference (COP31), at the media center located on the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya on November 14, 2026. (AFP)
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UN Official Urges Iran, US to Let Fertilizers Through Hormuz Strait

Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services), and coordinator of the UN Strait of Hormuz Task Force established by the UN Secretary-General, speaks during an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the 31st United Climate Change Conference (COP31), at the media center located on the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya on November 14, 2026. (AFP)
Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services), and coordinator of the UN Strait of Hormuz Task Force established by the UN Secretary-General, speaks during an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the 31st United Climate Change Conference (COP31), at the media center located on the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya on November 14, 2026. (AFP)

Iran and the United States should "immediately" allow fertilizer shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to ease the crisis in some of the most vulnerable countries, a senior UN official said Saturday.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN Office for Project Services, told the COP31 climate talks in the Turkish resort city of Antalya that the lack of fertilizers could push millions into poverty.

The Iranian blockade of the vital waterway, which started after the joint US-Israeli attack against Iran in late February, has choked shipping in the region and beyond. The US blockade of Iranian ports has further complicated matters.

While Iran and the United States are still trying to negotiate an end to the conflict, Moreira da Silva said he had the same message for both countries.

"They should continue their negotiations about the comprehensive deal -- but that deal should not avoid an immediate, exceptional, limited, and time-bound solution for the fertilizers," he said.

"Basically, what we need is five vessels a day with fertilizers," he added.

- Millions at risk -

Moreira da Silva heads up the UN task force dedicated to facilitating the safe passage of fertilizers during the crisis.

Before the conflict, a third of the world's fertilizers passed through the Strait of Hormuz, and since the blockades, their prices had risen by 30 percent, he said.

"But what I think is not sufficiently recognized is the disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable countries," he added.

Sudan's finance minister recently told him that the price of food there had doubled in six months, he added. In Nepal, they had told him that farmers could no longer afford to buy fertilizers.

"So, it's very important that we are aware that countries such as Mozambique, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka are facing very significant impact."

The effects of this shortage could be catastrophic, he warned.

"If we continue missing the planting seasons in different parts of the world we may have 45 million people facing severe and acute food insecurity," he said.

"We may have 30 million people being forced into poverty."

The UN had a system ready to get fertilizer shipments moving within seven to 10 days, he said.