Elon Musk played a key role in the Trump team, throwing money and efforts everywhere to support the campaign. Musk's VC buddies in Silicon Valley were also listed as cabinet candidates for Trump's DOGE committee, with well-known venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) co-founder Marc Andreessen showing strong interest in joining DOGE. According to earlier reports from The Washington Post, Marc Andreessen, Antonio Gracias, and Joe Lonsdale, three notable venture capitalists, were simultaneously asked to provide technical assistance for Musk's DOGE government efficiency department to collect data from federal databases.
Gracias is a co-founder of Valor Equity Partners and has strongly supported Musk's companies over the years, including SpaceX and Tesla. Gracias also served on Tesla's board from 2007 to 2021.
Lonsdale is a co-founder of 8VC, actively supporting defense technology companies like Anduril and OpenGov. Lonsdale has worked under the guidance of Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal) and helped co-found Palantir (a big data company).
According to TechCrunch, since 2022, Andreessen Horowitz has been a major investor in SpaceX and has been continuously increasing its holdings, remaining a steadfast supporter of Musk.
Andreessen Horowitz is actively competing for important positions in the cryptocurrency advisory committee that the Trump administration is preparing to form. This committee will include senior executives from the cryptocurrency industry, aiming to help the United States formulate cryptocurrency policies.
Brian Quintenz, the cryptocurrency policy head of a16z, was previously a policy advisor for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is an independent agency of the U.S. government, established in 1974, responsible for regulating the U.S. derivatives markets, including futures, options, and other related financial products. Brian Quintenz has previously provided advice for the Trump team.
Another venture capital firm, Paradigm, has also expressed strong interest in joining DOGE. This investment company was co-founded by Fred Ehrsam, who is a co-founder of Coinbase. Paradigm focuses on investments in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors.
According to Politico, Michael Kratsios, who served as Chief Technology Officer during Trump’s first term, has been appointed as the technology policy head for the Trump team. Michael Kratsios became known for writing the investment executive order supporting artificial intelligence that Trump issued in 2020. Before joining the government, he held a position at the AI company Scale AI.
From the political and business alliance between Musk and Trump to the establishment and personnel layout of DOGE, it is evident that DOGE is not just a play on words with Dogecoin but is preparing for significant endeavors, paving a blue ocean for global fintech development in blockchain by 2025.
This article discusses how Elon Musk's Silicon Valley VC brothers are competing to enter the DOGE committee, which is expected to bring new momentum to the blockchain industry by 2025. It first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.
