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US President-elect Donald Trump late Thursday named former PayPal chief operating officer David Sacks as the White House’s “AI and crypto czar.”

The wealthy tech entrepreneur will take on a newly created role, advising the Trump administration on cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence.

“David will lead the administration’s policy on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness,” Trump said in a social media post.

“It will protect free speech online and keep us away from Big Tech’s bias and censorship.”

According to Trump, Sacks will also lead a presidential advisory council on science and technology.

The entrepreneur, whose fortune is estimated at billions of dollars, is considered part of a so-called “PayPal Mafia” cadre of influential tech entrepreneurs that includes Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.

The group was part of the company’s founding era and its members have thrown their power behind conservative policies and candidates.

Sacks supported JD Vance as Trump’s running mate in the recent US presidential election and hosted Vance on his podcast.

After PayPal was acquired by eBay in 2002, Sacks helped found other technology companies, including Yammer, which was acquired by Microsoft.

Sacks, who like Musk was born in South Africa, also began investing in startups.

Bitcoin broke $100,000 on Thursday before falling back below the symbolically important level.

The digital asset is now up more than 50 percent since the election of Trump, who has vowed to make the United States the “Bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world.”

The historic level was broken after Trump appointed crypto advocate Paul Atkins as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the market regulator.

“Atkins is unlikely to be as anti-crypto as his predecessor Gary Gensler,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at the XTB trading platform.

“Politics are driving Bitcoin forward. We doubt the rally will stop here,” she added.

Musk met with US lawmakers on Thursday to discuss his plans to oversee radical government spending cuts under the new administration.

Trump rewarded Tesla boss

Although the office, called DOGE, has a purely advisory role, Musk’s star power and strong influence in Trump’s inner circle give him political clout.

During Trump’s campaign, Musk promised to cut federal spending by $2 trillion.

This would mean cutting overall U.S. spending by a third, which would almost certainly mean destroying social support programs — something that has never garnered strong political support.

Musk’s new role raises questions about potential conflicts of interest as he could make policy recommendations that directly impact his own business empire.

To underline the close connection to DOGE, Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency is called Dogecoin.