H.L. Mencken once wrote that politics is the art of keeping the public alarmed by imaginary dangers.

John Kenneth Galbraith observed that economic forecasting exists largely to make astrology look respectable.

Henry Kissinger described power as something that prefers ambiguity because clarity forces commitment.

If all that’s true—and the evidence suggests it is—Davos functions as the elite’s preferred venue for performed indecision.

But perhaps, in 2026, it’s gone beyond performance.

Constraints are now real, not theoretical. Ambiguity has costs, and delay increasingly reads as weakness.

Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026—the official Davos risk agenda—openly ranked “uncertainty” and “turbulence” as defining themes for the year…

Warning that leaders expect a “stormy” landscape and no single fixed path forward.

While the confusion card was strong at Davos…

It’s worth exploring David Sacks’ comments, especially in regards to crypto.

In Switzerland, the White House’s AI and crypto czar laid out a framework that suggests the fog is thinning, not thickening.

Fast.

Here are the major points…

The Fight For CLARITY

The “stablecoin yield fight” should have been over with, but it’s one main issue holding back the CLARITY Act.

Banks don’t want stablecoins to pay yield because yield is how deposits migrate.

Crypto wants it because yield already exists—embedded in the GENIUS Act, signed into law months ago. That genie doesn’t want to go back in the bottle.

Sacks’ message? Deal now, or lose later.

Market structure is coming. Once it lands, the wall between “crypto” and “banking” dissolves.

The architecture of finance is changing. 

At the same time, a few patterns became clear across his conversations about both AI and crypto…

First, Sacks consistently grouped crypto and AI together as innovation policy, not as financial regulation.

It belongs in the same bucket as startups, open systems, and emerging technologies that need room to breathe before they calcify. That marks a break from the last decade.

Second, he kept returning to open ecosystems. Platforms win by inviting participation, not by controlling it. APIs matter. Developers matter. Value accrues at the edges.

Third, he rejected regulation-by-hypothetical.

Watch what happens. Study real usage. Respond to real failures.

(Europe, for example, regulated AI before ChatGPT hit the mainstream. The result? Paralysis.)

Surface talk, yes. But directional.

The underlying signal is about where capital, talent, and infrastructure will actually concentrate.

Where the Curve is Bending

In short, crypto is being treated as something the U.S. should win at, not merely tolerate.

The crypto market is already awake to the signal. Everyone we’re talking to in the industry is getting into position.

Davos might applaud confusion. Markets don’t.

But in the US especially, the outlines are beginning to sharpen.

The opportunities ahead belong to those who understand where the curve is bending.

Much more to come on that front.