Bo Hines will work under Donald Trump’s crypto and AI czar David Sacks. Trump also recently appointed Sriram Krishnan as AI policy adviser and Stephen Miran as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. This aligns with Trump’s vision of making the U.S. a global crypto leader. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy added former Binance.US CEO Brian Brooks to its board as it joins the Nasdaq-100 Index, and Mohammad Shaikh stepped down as Aptos Labs CEO. Co-founder Avery Ching will be taking the helm to guide the layer-1 blockchain into its next growth phase.
Bo Hines to Head the New Crypto Council
Donald Trump announced the appointment of former college football player Bo Hines as the executive director of his administration’s new “Crypto Council.” In a post on Truth Social from Dec. 22, the president-elect confirmed that Hines, a Republican candidate who narrowly lost North Carolina’s U.S. House race in 2022, will lead the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets.
Hines’ political background includes support from crypto-focused political action committees, including the American Dream Federal Action super PAC. He also benefited from contributions made by former FTX CEO Ryan Salame, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for crimes related to unlawful political donations. Salame’s contributions to Republican candidates, including Hines, amounted to about $13.4 million in 2022.
In addition to Hines’ appointment, Trump named Sriram Krishnan, a former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), as the senior AI policy adviser to the Crypto Council. Krishnan pledged to work closely with David Sacks to ensure the United States maintains its leadership in artificial intelligence.
These appointments reinforce Trump’s strong pro-crypto stance, which was a cornerstone of his presidential campaign. His promise to position the United States as the “world capital of crypto” earned a lot of financial backing from leading industry executives.
Trump also continued to bring crypto advocates into influential roles, including billionaire Elon Musk and former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, the latter of whom has been nominated to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Stephen Miran Also Joins Trump’s Pro-Crypto Administration
President-elect Donald Trump also nominated economist and former advisor Stephen Miran as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. His decision was announced on Dec. 22 via social media, and Miran’s role will involve providing economic policy guidance to the Executive Branch.
Miran previously served as a senior adviser for economic policy at the U.S. Treasury Department during Trump’s first administration. In a recent episode of The Bitcoin Layer podcast, he talked about the importance of pro-innovation policies, including financial deregulation, and suggested that crypto could play a pivotal role in driving economic growth under the new administration. The crypto community largely welcomed Miran’s nomination, and sees it as yet another step in Trump’s ongoing support for pro-crypto and pro-innovation officials.
Trump’s pro-crypto agenda sparked a lot of optimism in the market, and many people predict major growth for Bitcoin. Cathie Wood, founder of ARK Invest, forecasted a $1 million Bitcoin price by 2030 due to the administration’s supportive policies. Eric Trump, the President-elect’s son, agrees with Woods and believes Bitcoin’s supply scarcity will be a key factor driving its value to seven figures.
Brian Brooks Joins MicroStrategy Board
Things are not only changing on the political front. MicroStrategy, the Bitcoin-focused software company, appointed former Binance.US CEO Brian Brooks, Jane Dietze, and Gregg Winiarski to its board of directors, bringing the total number of board members to nine.
The announcement was shared in a Dec. 20 filing with the SEC, and coincides with MicroStrategy’s inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 Index that is set to take effect on Dec. 23. Brooks was a former acting Comptroller of the Currency and is a well known figure in the crypto industry. Swan Bitcoin described the appointment as a “BIG deal” due to Brooks’ deep connections in the U.S. banking system and his regulatory expertise.
Brooks resigned from Binance.US in August of 2021 after less than four months as CEO because of strategic differences. His recent appointment to MicroStrategy’s board fueled speculation about his influence on the company’s strategic direction. Crypto commentator MacroScope is very impressed with the quality of the new board members, and called all three appointments beneficial for the company.
The appointment happened on the heels of Nasdaq’s decision to add MicroStrategy to its prestigious Nasdaq-100 Index, recognizing it as one of the 100 largest companies by market capitalization. Alongside MicroStrategy, Palantir Technologies and Axon Enterprise are also being added to the index, while Illumina, Super Micro Computer, and Moderna are set to be removed.
MicroStrategy transitioned into a de facto Bitcoin hedge fund in 2020, and still continues to make headlines with its strategic moves in the crypto and corporate space.
Mohammad Shaikh Steps down as Aptos Labs CEO
Mohammad Shaikh, co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs, recently stepped down from his role to pursue new opportunities. Co-founder and CTO Avery Ching will be taking over as CEO.
The move was announced in a Dec. 19 post on X, and Shaikh expressed his confidence in Aptos Labs’ future and the team’s ability to achieve the company’s vision. Ching is expected to lead Aptos Labs into its next phase of growth, with a focus on expanding the ecosystem’s builder community across regions like India, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, and China.
Aptos Labs is known for its layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain, and aims to deliver scalability, security, and high transaction speeds. The platform uses the Move programming language that was initially developed for Meta’s Diem project.
Since its inception in 2021, Shaikh has played a pivotal role in raising $400 million for the project and securing strategic partnerships with major companies like BlackRock, Google, Microsoft, Mastercard, and Franklin Templeton. Under his leadership, Aptos also launched its mainnet in October of 2022 and positioned itself as a competitor to other major blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, and Sui.
In its own announcement, Aptos Labs still promised to deliver major technical advancements by 2025. The news of Shaikh’s departure was met with praise from industry stakeholders. Crypto research firm Token Relations even thanked him for his contributions to building Aptos into a prominent blockchain platform. While Shaikh will remain a strategic adviser, he plans to take time to reflect on the future of finance and how Aptos can solidify its position as a leading layer-1 blockchain.
APT price action over the past week (Source: CoinMarketCap)
The Aptos (APT) token has a market cap of $5.1 billion, and saw minimal impact from the announcement. The token did, however, experience a more than 30% price drop over the past week of trading. APT is ranked as the 29th largest crypto by market cap.
