Sacks Out, Bitcoin Tanks: The $65K Hangover After Trump's Crypto Czar Calls It Quits

Bitcoin decided to throw itself a pity party on Friday, plunging to its weakest level in nearly a month just as David Sacks confirmed his exit as President Donald Trump's "AI and crypto czar"—because nothing says "market stability" like watching the government's designated crypto shepherd pack his bags.

The king coin (BTC) hit $65,720—its lowest since March 2—before staging a minor comeback to around $65,804, a daily loss exceeding 4% that dragged the entire market into the gutter with it. Over $500 million in crypto positions got liquidated in the past 24 hours, with nearly 90% of casualties being long traders, per CoinGlass. The bulls really said "YOLO" at the worst possible time.

Ethereum (ETH) slipped roughly 4% to near $1,980, Solana (SOL) dropped 5% below $83, and BNB fell 3% to around $608. Crypto equities like MicroStrategy and BitMine Immersion Technologies also touched one-month lows. Basically, if you held crypto today, you lost money. Fun stuff.

The bloodbath coincided with Sacks, the PayPal veteran and "All-In" podcast co-host, confirming his tenure as the White House's digital-asset point man has ended after maxing out his 130 days as a special government employee. Trump first appointed him "White House AI & Crypto Czar" in December 2024, promising Sacks would guide policy and build a legal framework so the industry could "thrive in the U.S." Look, it sounded nice at the time.

The industry viewed it as a watershed moment. Sacks himself argued the administration's stance put the U.S. "one step closer" to becoming the "crypto capital of the world." And for a brief, beautiful moment, Bitcoin even touched six figures—maybe the universe was just teasing us.

Sacks' departure isn't a hard pivot away from crypto, but it does create questions about how unified the White House remains on digital-asset rules. He shifts to co-chairing the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, handling a broader technology-dominance strategy instead of the day-to-day crypto rulemaking that made him a focal point. Basically, he's been promoted out of the meme coin trenches.

During his time in the West Wing, Sacks repeatedly linked regulatory clarity to market stability, warning that without it, investment would stay "volatile and episodic." Turns out he wasn't wrong—just perhaps a bit optimistic about how long the good vibes would last.

The dip to the mid-$65,000s looks modest next to past cycle drawdowns exceeding 30%, but it's hitting during a backdrop of weakening macro sentiment, synchronized drops in major U.S. indices, and renewed Middle East tensions. The Nasdaq fell roughly 1.5%, with the S&P 500 and Dow down around 1%, as investors digested rising