Trump's crypto champ

Good morning. Donald Trump taps a prominent venture capitalist as his crypto and AI guy. The search for the Manhattan shooter enters its third day. And a French pharma company plans to turn poop into medicines. Listen to the day’s top stories.

A crypto czar is born. Donald Trump picked venture capitalist David Sacks to become the White House’s AI and crypto policy champion. In Sacks, a former PayPal exec, Trump is tapping one of his most prominent Silicon Valley supporters and fundraisers, with the aim of making America the “clear leader” in both areas. The president-elect also named ex-Senator David Perdue as ambassador to China, a choice that could be seen as an olive branch to Beijing amid a raft of tit-for-tat trade moves.

Speaking of donors, Elon Musk has earned the unofficial title of most prolific benefactor of the election cycle. He poured at least $274 million into political groups in 2024, a lot more than the second-biggest donor, according to OpenSecrets. Now for the reward: As DOGE co-director, Musk is on a mission to convince lawmakers to back his efforts to slash the federal budget. In Washington yesterday, he told reporters he’s focused on “spending the public’s money well.”

Caution dominated early trading on Friday as markets await a key US jobs report that may give further guidance on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path. Despite all the crypto hype, Bitcoin briefly dropped close to 7% after the surge past $100,000 led some traders to hedge for a retreat. And buyer beware: A big name on Wall Street warned the powerful rally in tokens and US stocks has left both asset classes looking rather frothy.

Three days since his shock declaration— and swift repeal—of martial law in South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol is looking increasingly imperiled. He lost the support of a key ally, making it more likely he’ll be impeached in the next few days. In the meantime, millions of Koreans have turned to a year-old movie to make sense of the turmoil: 12.12 The Day. It debuted in 2023 to 13 million moviegoers, and has been the No. 1 Korean film on Netflix since Tuesday.

Deep Dive: Manhattan Manhunt

The NYPD’s search for the suspect who killed a high-ranking health-care executive in New York City entered its third day, with reactions uncovering a deep anger among many Americans—even as his motive remains unclear.

The Big Take

Opinion

A US Bitcoin reserve would be a bad deal for Americans, as it would fuel inflation and drive up debt service costs without creating value for the government, former Fed official Bill Dudley writes. Bitcoin's volatility makes it a poor medium of exchange.

Before You Go

It’s been a wild ride in the auto market this year, with manuals making a comeback in the US, Jaguar’s polarizing rebrand, and BYD kicking Tesla to the curb. Through it all, exciting cars continued to be released. Check out the best ones we tested in 2024.

Ransomware attacks are proliferating with small- and medium-sized companies in North America and Europe as the prime targets. The median ransom payment soared to $6.5 million in 2023 from $335,000 the year before.

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