Bo Hines is going to work for David Sacks, Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar. Trump has also appointed Sriram Krsnan to the position of AI adviser, and Stephen Miran is now chairman of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisors. Trump wants to make the U.S. an international crypto leader. MicroStrategy has added Brian Brooks, the former CEO of Binance.US, to its board, as it moves into the Nasdaq-100 Index. Mohammad Shaikh, Aptos’s CEO, is stepping down. Avery Ching, co-founder of layer-1, will take the lead to help guide it into the next phase of growth.
Bo Hines will lead the new Crypto Council
Donald Trump has announced that former college footballer Bo Hines will be the executive director of the new Crypto Council of the Trump administration. In a Truth Social post from December 22, Trump confirmed the nomination of Hines. Hines was a Republican who lost the North Carolina U.S. House election in 2022 by a narrow margin. He is now the head of the Presidential Council of Advisers for digital assets.
Hines has a political history that includes the support of crypto-focused political committees such as American Dream Federal Action super PAC. Former FTX Chief Executive Ryan Salame also contributed to Hines’s political background. Salame is serving a 7-year sentence in prison for illegal donations and crimes. Salame contributed $13.4 million to Republican candidates in 2022, which included Hines.
Trump also appointed Sriram Krishnan as senior AI adviser for the Crypto Council. He was a general partner of Andreessen-Horowitz (a16z) and a former Andreessen-Horowitz executive. Krishnan promised to work closely alongside David Sacks in order to maintain the United States’ leadership in artificial intelligent.
The appointments confirm Trump’s pro-crypto position, which was the cornerstone of Trump’s presidential campaign. Leading industry executives backed his promise to make the United States the “world capital for crypto”.
Trump has also been bringing crypto supporters into prominent roles. These include billionaire Elon Musk and Paul Atkins, a former SEC commissioner who was nominated as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Stephen Miran Joins Trump’s Crypto-Friendly Administration
Donald Trump nominated former adviser Stephen Miran, an economist, as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. Miran was appointed to this position on December 22nd via Twitter. His role is to provide economic policy advice for the Executive Branch.
Miran was a senior advisor for economic policy in the U.S. Treasury Department under Trump’s initial administration. He discussed the importance of financial deregulation and pro-innovation policy in a recent podcast episode. Miran’s appointment was largely welcomed by the crypto community, who see it as another step Trump has taken to support pro-crypto officials and innovation.
Trump’s crypto-friendly agenda has sparked optimism on the market and led many to predict a major increase in Bitcoin. Cathie Wood of ARK Invest predicted a Bitcoin price of $1 million by 2030, due to administration policies that are supportive. Eric Trump, son of the president-elect, believes that Bitcoin’s scarcity is a major factor in its price reaching seven figures.
Brian Brooks Joins MicroStrategy Board
Not only are things changing in the world of politics. MicroStrategy is a Bitcoin software company that has appointed the former Binance.US Chief Executive Officer Brian Brooks as well as Jane Dietze and Gregg Winiarski. This brings the number of its board to nine.
This announcement came in an SEC filing on December 20. It coincided with MicroStrategy being included in the Nasdaq-100 Index, which is scheduled to go into effect Dec. 23, 2018. Brooks is well-known in the crypto sector and was the acting Comptroller for the Currency. Swan Bitcoin called the appointment a “BIG Deal” because of Brooks’ connections within the U.S. Banking System and his expertise in regulatory matters.
Brooks left Binance.US after less than 4 months in 2021 due to strategic differences. The speculation that he would influence the strategic direction of MicroStrategy grew after his recent appointment as a board member. MacroScope, a crypto commentator, is impressed by the board’s new members and believes that all three appointments are beneficial to the company.
This appointment came after Nasdaq added MicroStrategy’s Nasdaq-100 Index to recognize it as being one of the top 100 companies in terms of market capitalization. Palantir Technologies, Axon, Super Micro Computer and Moderna will also be added to the Nasdaq-100 Index, alongside MicroStrategy.
MicroStrategy became a Bitcoin hedge fund de facto in 2020 and continues to be a major player in both the corporate and crypto space.
Mohammad Shaikh steps down as Aptos labs CEO
Mohammad Shaikh resigned as CEO and co-founder of Aptos Labs to explore new career opportunities. Avery Ching, co-founder and chief technology officer of Aptos Labs, will take over the role as CEO.
In a post published on X Dec. 19, Shaikh stated his belief in Aptos Labs and its future, as well as the ability of the team to realize the vision. Ching will lead Aptos Labs in its next growth phase, focusing on the expansion of Aptos Labs’ builder community to regions such as India, Vietnam and South Korea.
Aptos Labs, known for their layer-1 proof of stake blockchain, aims to provide scalability and security as well as high transaction speed. Move, the programming language originally developed by Meta for its Diem project, is used on this platform.
Shaikh played an important role since the 2021 launch of Aptos, raising $400M for the project, as well as establishing strategic partnerships with companies such BlackRock, Microsoft, Mastercard and Franklin Templeton. In October 2022, Aptos launched its mainnet under his leadership and established itself as a major competitor of other blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana and Sui.
Aptos Labs’ own announcement still promises to make major technological advancements before 2025. Industry stakeholders praised the news of Shaikh’s departure. Token Relations, a crypto research company, thanked Shaikh for helping to build Aptos as a leading blockchain platform. Shaikh, who will continue to be a consultant for Aptos, plans to spend time reflecting on the future and Aptos’ position as an industry leader in layer-1 blockchain.
Price action of APT over the last week (CoinMarketCap )
Aptos token (APT), with a $5.1 billion market cap, saw only a minimal effect from this announcement. However, the token’s price dropped by more than 30 percent over the last week. APT ranks as the 29th biggest crypto by market capital.
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