29-year-old political newcomer Bo Hines was appointed executive director of Trump's crypto committee, and crypto companies privately competed for seats

Author: Weilin, PANews

On December 23, US President-elect Trump announced that Bo Hines will serve as the executive director of the newly established Presidential Digital Asset Advisory Committee ("Crypto Committee"). Compared with other nominees, 29-year-old Bo Hines is a political and crypto newcomer who has not yet publicly stated his position on cryptocurrencies. Before entering politics, he was a college football player and ran for a seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives twice in 2022 and 2024. Although he lost to the Democrats in 2022, he received Trump's "endorsement" in the election, which may have established a connection with Trump.

In addition, the specific structure and personnel of the Cryptography Committee are still being planned. According to Bloomberg, various decisions on the structure of the Cryptography Committee will be made in the next few weeks. There are currently two options: large and small. The final list of members is expected to be announced in January.

A crypto and political novice who was once supported by Trump to run for state legislator became the executive director of the Crypto Commission

Trump announced the appointment in a statement posted on Truth Social. "Bo Hines will serve as Executive Director of the President's Digital Asset Advisory Council ('Crypto Council'), a new advisory group comprised of crypto industry luminaries chaired by our 'Crypto Czar' David Sacks. Bo is a graduate of Yale University and Wake Forest Law School," he said.

In this role, Bo Hines will "work with David Sacks to drive innovation and growth in the digital asset sector while ensuring industry leaders have the resources they need to succeed." Trump said, "Together they will create an environment that allows this industry to thrive and continue to be a cornerstone of technological advancement in our country.

PANews previously wrote about the "crypto czar" David Sacks (Related reading: White House crypto chief David Sacks' diverse background: Silicon Valley investor, Musk's close friend, Vance's financier ), while the 29-year-old Bo Hines is a novice with little political experience. Some analysts believe that Trump's move may be to attract young crypto users.

Looking back at Bo Hines' political experience, in January 2021, Bo Hines announced that he would run for the House seat in North Carolina's 5th Congressional District as a Republican candidate. In February 2022, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that North Carolina's congressional districts were unconstitutional. After the North Carolina districts were overturned, Hines decided to switch to the newly demarcated 13th Congressional District, but it caused considerable controversy due to issues such as his residence not being within the district. On March 14, 2022, he received the support of former President Trump, who called Hines a "fighter for conservative values."

On May 17, 2022, Bo Hines defeated seven opponents in the Republican primary, receiving 32% of the vote and defeating his closest opponent by nearly double digits. However, Hines lost the general election to Democratic state Senator Wiley Nickel by a narrow margin. With Nickel's victory in the 13th District, and another Democratic victory in the new 14th District (created due to population growth), North Carolina Democrats flipped one seat and gained another, bringing the state's representation in Congress to a 7-7 tie. Nonetheless, Bo Hines may have established a connection with Trump.

In May 2022, Business Insider reported that Bo Hines received campaign funds mainly through PACs. Campaign financial disclosures show that only 28% of Hines' campaign funds were self-raised, and most campaign donations came from individual donors. The report said that part of the funds came from FTX executive Ryan Salame. Ryan Salame is currently serving a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for pleading guilty to charges including conspiracy to make illegal political donations.

In 2024, Bo Hines ran for Congress again, aiming for North Carolina's 6th Congressional District, but he lost in the Republican primary. This time, he did not receive Trump's support, and Trump instead endorsed the current elected Congressman Addison McDowell. Now Trump has directly appointed him to a job in the White House, even though he has not made any public comments on cryptocurrency before.

Before joining the political campaign, Bo Hines played college football at North Carolina State University as a wide receiver, then transferred to Yale University and briefly continued his football career.

In a related X-tweet following the appointment, Bo Hines told Trump that it would be “the honor of a lifetime to serve in your next administration,” adding, “I could not be more excited to work side by side with the brilliant David Sacks to ensure this industry thrives and continues to be a cornerstone of technological advancement in our country.”

On December 23, Trump also announced several team members who will work with David Sacks, including Michael JK Kratsios as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dr. Lynne Parker as executive director of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and Sriram Krishnan as senior policy advisor for artificial intelligence in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

As Crypto Council is launched, industry players vie for influence

The incoming U.S. government is weighing two distinct options for forming a long-awaited advisory board for the crypto industry, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

Trump and his core team are considering forming a committee with a minimum of 10 members or a maximum of 100 members. The committee will report to David Sacks. As Trump's first appointed person in charge of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency affairs, Sacks will manage two separate committees, one for each of his two areas of responsibility.

A small crypto committee made up of senior industry executives such as CEOs would have greater influence on policy; a larger committee would be more of a ceremonial information-gathering body with members drawn from a wider range of fields.

Even before the election, executives from digital asset exchanges and bitcoin mining companies began visiting Mar-a-Lago and donated large sums of money to Trump's campaign.

Recently, leading companies in the crypto industry have been visiting Trump intensively, trying to influence his personnel appointments and policies in the crypto field. On November 22, Reuters reported that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently met with Trump, and Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire also publicly expressed his willingness to join the committee. At the same time, the crypto departments of Paradigm and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) are also expected to have a seat on the committee. In addition, several crypto companies including Ripple and Kraken are competing for seats on President-elect Trump's crypto advisory board. This organized contact continues, and in November, Justin Sun also said he invested $30 million in World Liberty Financial. Earlier in December, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida to discuss personnel appointments and regulation in the crypto industry.

It is reported that the Crypto Advisory Committee may be affiliated with the White House National Economic Council or an independent White House department. Its main responsibilities include coordinating digital asset policies, working with Congress to develop crypto legislation, establishing Bitcoin reserves, and collaborating with agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Treasury Department.

Bloomberg reported that any decision on the structure of the committee will be made in the next few weeks, and the final composition and members are expected to be announced in January. Trump is expected to sign an executive order shortly after taking office to formally establish the committee. Despite the lobbying enthusiasm from various industries, there is still no formal nomination process.