David Sacks, President Donald Trump’s go-to “czar” for AI and crypto, and his venture-capital firm, Craft Ventures, recently parted ways with a whopping $200 million worth of digital asset holdings.

According to Bloomberg, citing a memo from the White House, Sacks and Craft liquidated their entire crypto portfolio—Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL)—before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

This revelation came on March 5 by White House counsel David Warrington.

Among the divestitures: Sacks ditched his stakes in Coinbase and Robinhood, as well as his limited-partner shares in crypto funds Multicoin Capital and Blockchain Capital.

Craft Ventures followed suit, selling off its own interests in Multicoin Capital and Bitwise Asset Management.

Sacks has repeatedly insisted he’s not into crypto anymore—at least not since becoming the White House’s crypto czar. He even made a point of addressing it directly on March 3, responding to a tweet by VC reporter George Hammond.

“Correct. I sold all my cryptocurrency (including BTC, ETH, and SOL) prior to the start of the administration,” he clarified on X (formerly Twitter).

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren had also been pressing for Sacks to release his financial disclosures to the public. By divesting his crypto holdings before taking on the role of crypto adviser, Sacks is clearly distancing himself from any potential bias.

But Trump’s track record on the matter? That’s a different story.

Potential conflicts of interest

On the eve of his inauguration, Trump launched his very own memecoin, Official Trump (TRUMP) — a token that has no utility. But that didn’t stop it from gaining a cult following and peaking at a value of $15 billion.

Those followers? They lost billions. Official Trump is currently down about 83.5% of its value from its all-time high. See below.

A recent Financial Times investigation shows the project raising at least $350 million in the first three weeks post-launch. Despite claims that it’s “not distributed or sold by Donald Trump or his affiliates,” the memecoin’s real backers seem to be Trump’s subsidiary, CIC Digital, and Fight Fight Fight LLC, which own a whopping 80% of the token.

Trump’s crypto ventures didn’t stop there. Last September, he launched World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance platform that peddles the WLFI token. His sons—Eric, Don Jr., and Barron—are all reportedly involved in the project.

This week, World Liberty Financial raised $550 million in a token sale, pushing its total funding close to $600 million so far. So far, it has secured $550 million by selling its WLFI tokens, data from ICO Drops shows.

Last month, crypto.news reported that World Liberty Financial sold over 24 billion tokens, leaving around 950 million tokens available for purchase.

It’s worth noting that, on March 6, Trump signed a second Executive Order to establish a U.S. Bitcoin reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile. At the time, Sacks downplayed the decision to include altcoins in the stockpile.

Buddying up to Binance?

Binance is reportedly in talks with Trump and/or World Liberty Financial to sell a financial stake in its U.S. arm. The discussions reportedly began after Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, rbeagan looking to reestablish a presence in the U.S. market.

It remains unclear whether the stake would be contingent on a pardon for Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao.

Recall how Binance’s recent brush with the law. The company, which has no official headquarters, ran into significant legal trouble over allegations of money laundering and regulatory violations.

But under the Trump administration, cryptocurrency companies like Binance stand to benefit from loose regulations. So far, the Trump-appointed leadership of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has halted numerous investigations into crypto-related companies that started under President Joe Biden’s watch — including Binance.

US President Trump’s outspoken acceptance of near-term economic hardship has placed risk assets—including Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader crypto market—under mounting pressure. According to a thread by The Kobeissi Letter on X, President Trump’s strategy revolves around tolerating significant “short term pain” in order to drive down inflation and facilitate the refinancing of over $9 trillion in US debt.

Will Crypto Survive Trump’s ‘Short-Term Pain’ Strategy?

The impact on cryptocurrencies has been immediate and pronounced. While US equities have shed an estimated $5 trillion in market value this year, digital assets have also suffered steep losses. Since President Trump’s inauguration on January 21, Bitcoin (BTC) has declined by approximately -23%, Ethereum (ETH) has tumbled by roughly -43% and the broader crypto market has experienced even more dramatic price drops.

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Although high volatility is nothing new in crypto, the synchronized downturn suggests that crypto assets are not immune to macroeconomic forces. The Kobeissi Letter adds, “Based on our research, President Trump made this conclusion BEFORE inauguration. However, he began formally articulating it on March 6th. Below is the headline that destroyed investor confidence in 2025. President Trump is no longer the ‘stock market’s President’ (for now).”

The Kobeissi Letter points to March 9 as the date President Trump further confirmed his stance by noting that America is in a “period of transition” and that it will “take a little time,” implying a willingness to tolerate near-term market turbulence. During this period, Commerce Secretary Lutnick’s statement on March 6—“Stock market not driving outcomes for this admin”—was followed by Treasury Secretary Bessent’s remark, “Not concerned about a little volatility.”

Although The Kobeissi Letter’s analysis notes that the administration’s viewpoint solidified before inauguration, it cites President Trump’s urgent focus on the year 2025, when $9.2 trillion in US debt will either mature or need to be refinanced. The thread states, “First, as we have previously noted, the US is facing a massive refinancing task. In 2025, $9.2 TRILLION of US debt will either mature or need to be refinanced. The quickest way to LOWER rates ahead of this colossal refinancing would be a recession.”

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Beyond debt concerns, The Kobeissi Letter also highlights the administration’s drive to reduce oil prices and the US trade deficit as part of the same economic calculation. Since President Trump took office, oil has fallen by over 20%. “Furthermore, a clearly defined part of President Trump’s strategy has been to LOWER oil prices. Oil prices are down 20%+ since Trump took office. This morning, Citigroup said oil prices falling to $53 would lower inflation to 2%. What would lower oil prices? A recession.”

Meanwhile, the administration’s extensive use of tariffs, which The Kobeissi Letter describes as “levying tariffs on almost ALL US trade partners,” is chipping away at GDP growth estimates, further hinting that a deliberate slowdown is in motion.

The Kobeissi Letter also notes, “On top of this, DOGE and Trump are attempting to cut TONS of government jobs. These are the same jobs that have accounted for much of the recent job ‘growth’ in the US. Government jobs have risen by 2 million over the last 4.5 years. Cutting these jobs will spur a recession.” DOGE leader Elon Musk appears resigned to short-term declines. Even after Tesla (TSLA) recorded its seventh-largest historical drop on March 10, Musk posted that “It will be fine long-term.”

For crypto traders and investors, the “short term pain” scenario by Trump is currently dictating the price action. The question, the analysts from The Kobeissi Letter posit, is whether this will lead to a more favorable economic landscape in the long run. “Is the ‘short term pain’ worth the ‘long term gain’ in President Trump’s economic strategy?”.

At press time, the BTC price remained under heavy downward pressure and traded at $82,000.

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com

Donald Trump’s DeFi project World Liberty Financial continues fresh crypto, acquiring another 541,242 SEI coins. This news was enough to push the SEI price up by 7.3% while the broader crypto market consolidates. The recent acquisition comes despite the Trump portfolio for digital assets sitting on a $124 million loss.

SEI Price Rallies After Donald Trump’s DeFi Project Investment

Amid the week of strong crypto market correction, the SEI price has bounced back from the bottom of $0.18, thereby gaining an additional 7% today, and inching closer to $0.20 levels. Also, the daily trading volume for SEI has shot up by 17% to more than $127 million, showing a strong bullish sentiment for the altcoin.

The recent SEI price pump comes as Donald Trump’s blockchain-focused venture, World Liberty Financial, has made another significant investment, purchasing 541,242 SEI tokens for $100,000 USDC at an average price of $0.185, as data from Spot On Chain.

The project’s total SEI holdings now stand at 1.089 million tokens, acquired at a cumulative cost of $225,000. However, due to the recent market fluctuations, their current value has dropped slightly to $207,000. The Trump portfolio, which holds a total of 9 crypto tokens, is currently sitting at a cumulative loss of $124 million on its investment value of close to $340 million.

On the technical chart, SEI price is positioning for a potential short-term breakout from its descending triangle pattern on the hourly chart. A decisive rebound from key resistance zones could trigger a substantial price movement.

World Liberty Financial on Crypto Buying Spree

Despite the broader crypto market downtrend since late February, World Liberty Financial has aggressively expanded its crypto portfolio, investing $21.6 million in prominent assets such as Ethereum (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Move (MOVE), and SEI.

Last week itself, it added the Donald Trump’s DeFi project invested $10 million each into Ethereum (ETH) and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).

In February, World Liberty Financial unveiled its new Macro Strategy Reserve, a strategic initiative aimed at fortifying its presence in the cryptocurrency sector. The Reserve focuses on diversifying WLFI’s holdings across a range of digital assets to provide financial stability. By spreading investments, the reserve seeks to mitigate market volatility while ensuring the platform’s long-term resilience and sustainability in the evolving crypto landscape.

Recent Partner With Sui

The Donald Trump’s DeFi project also announced its recent partnership with Sui on key development opportunities. As part of this partnership, it will also build a strategic SUI reserve.

Evang Cheng, a founding contributor to Sui, stated that the synergy between Sui’s cutting-edge technology and WLFI’s ambitious vision could revolutionize the way assets are stored and utilized globally.

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Bhushan Akolkar

Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast with a keen understanding of financial markets. His interest in economics and finance has led him to focus on emerging Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency markets. He is committed to continuous learning and stays motivated by sharing the knowledge he acquires. In his free time, Bhushan enjoys reading thriller fiction novels and occasionally explores his culinary skills.

Disclaimer: The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.