Trump Taps Zuckerberg, Huang, and Coinbase Co-Founder for Revamped Science Council

President Donald Trump has appointed 13 technology and crypto industry figures to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, giving Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and Andreessen Horowitz general partner Marc Andreessen roles on a panel expected to help shape US policy on artificial intelligence (AI), digital assets, and other emerging technologies.

The council was re-established by executive order on Jan. 23 last year, and is co-chaired by White House AI and crypto adviser David Sacks and Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios. 

Moreover, the White House said the group will address the opportunities and challenges new technologies present to US workers and how Americans can benefit from the administration’s innovation agenda.

Ehrsam is the clearest direct representative of the crypto sector on the panel. He co-founded Coinbase and later helped launch crypto investment firm Paradigm. Andreessen’s firm, a16z, has invested heavily in crypto and web3 companies.

With Sacks serving as co-chair, the council gives the digital asset industry a formal advisory link to the White House as Congress continues work on crypto market structure legislation.

Read more: BlackRock’s Larry Fink Doubles Down on Tokenisation as Key to Mass Investment Access

Notable Absences and Conflicts

The rest of the appointments came largely from major technology, computing, and energy companies. They include Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, AMD chief executive Lisa Su, Oracle chief executive Safra Catz, and Oracle executive chairman Larry Ellison.

The list gets bigger: Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Dell Technologies chief executive Michael Dell, Oklo chief executive Jacob DeWitte, Commonwealth Fusion Systems chief executive Bob Mumgaard, entrepreneur David Friedberg… well, yeah it’s a lot of them, you get the point.

Interestingly, one thing to notice is that Elon Musk and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman were not included. No Microsoft executives were named. The White House said more appointments are expected, and the council can expand to 24 members.

The lineup also drew scrutiny over possible conflicts. Meta, Google, and Nvidia each donated US$1 million (AU$1.43 million) to Trump’s inauguration committee, and Oracle supported the administration-backed TikTok US takeover effort. Of the 13 appointees, two are women.

Related: Bitcoin Whipsaws on Trump-Iran Headlines, Triggering $400M in Liquidations 

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