U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has appointed former college football player Bo Hines to the new crypto council.
Announced Sunday, Hines will be onboard as the executive director of the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets.
The 29-year-old acknowledged the appointment in a December 23 post on X, writing:
Thank you, Mr. President! It will be the honor of a lifetime to serve in your next administration. Thank you for everything you have done and continue to do for our country.
Hines further expressed his excitement about collaborating with the council’s chair, David Sacks. He also stated his commitment to ensuring that the digital asset industry thrives and remains central to the United States technological leadership.
According to a Truth Social post by Trump, the crypto council is a newly created advisory body composed of key figures in the virtual currency space. Chaired by Sacks, the group will work to foster innovation and growth in the sector while providing industry leaders with the resources they need to succeed.
Together, they will create an environment where this industry can flourish and remain a cornerstone of our nation’s technological advancement, said the statement.
Hines, an alumnus of Yale University and Wake Forest University Law School, played for both North Carolina State and Yale. In 2022, he took a stab at elective politics, running as the Republican candidate for North Carolina’s 13th congressional district, where he narrowly lost to Democrat Wiley Nickel.
He has long supported cryptocurrency, describing the assets as the “epitome of individual empowerment in finance” in a January 16 post on X. Further, he decried the “burdensome regulations” the Biden administration had placed on the industry, stating it needed “freedom to grow organically.”
Since winning the U.S. presidential election, Trump has made several pro-crypto appointments in line with his campaign promise to make America the crypto capital of the world.
On December 5, he chose David Sacks to oversee the AI and cryptocurrency sectors. At the time, he explained that his responsibilities would include positioning the U.S. as a world leader in these fields by protecting free speech online and countering Big Tech bias and censorship.
The crypto czar was also tasked with creating a legal framework to address the sectors demand for regulatory clarity, enabling its growth and success within the country.
Under Trumps administration, Sacks, in collaboration with the chairs of the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will lead efforts to reform digital currency policies backed by the new crypto council.
Additionally, the president-elect has selected Paul Atkins to replace outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler, signaling his determination to reverse what he has described as the Biden administrations war on crypto, primarily driven by the regulator under Gensler’s leadership.
Congressman French Hill was also named the incoming chair of the House Financial Services Committee, effective in 2025. He is expected to play a crucial role in shaping legislative measures for the crypto sector in the year ahead.