Trump appoints football player Hines as chairman of cryptocurrency committee

Author: Tom Mitchelhill, CoinTelegraph; Compiler: Tao Zhu, Golden Finance

Donald Trump has appointed former college football player Bo Hines as executive director of the new administration 's newly formed "Encryption Council."

Hines — an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022 — will become the executive director of the President’s Crypto Assets Advisory Council, the U.S. president-elect said in a Dec. 22 post on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump added that the new advisory group - dubbed the "Crypto Council" - will be led by his pick for crypto and artificial intelligence czar David Sacks.

“In his new role, Hines will work with David to promote innovation and growth in the crypto-asset space while ensuring industry leaders have the resources they need to succeed,” Trump wrote.

In 2022, Hines ran as the Republican candidate for a U.S. House seat in North Carolina, but narrowly lost to Democratic rival Willie Nickell.

Hines and several other Republican candidates have received funding from the American Dream Federal Action super PAC and other pro-crypto PACs.

Former FTX CEO Ryan Salam — who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for crimes including illegal political donations — reportedly donated $13.4 million to Republican candidates, including Hines.

Trump appoints former a16z general partner as senior AI adviser

Trump also announced the appointment of former Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) general partner Sriram Krishnan as senior artificial intelligence policy adviser to the new committee.

"I am honored to serve the country and work closely with David Sacks to ensure America's continued leadership in artificial intelligence," Krishnan wrote on X in response to his appointment.

The appointments reflect Trump’s continued support for the cryptocurrency industry. During his presidential campaign, he pledged to make the United States “the world capital of cryptocurrency,” to which end he raised millions of dollars from cryptocurrency industry executives.

He has appointed other cryptocurrency proponents as key advisers, including billionaire Elon Musk.

On December 4, Trump nominated Paul Atkins, a pro-cryptocurrency businessman and former SEC commissioner, to serve as chairman of the agency, a move that industry executives hope will weaken regulatory enforcement actions against the cryptocurrency industry.