{"slug": "openai-offers-the-us-government-a-5-stake-worth-42-6-billion-and-crypto-markets", "title": "OpenAI offers the US government a 5% stake worth $42.6 billion, and crypto markets are already feeling the ripple effects", "summary": "OpenAI has offered the US government a 5% equity stake valued at $42.6 billion, part of a broader regulatory framework proposed by CEO Sam Altman to preempt AI regulation. The move has already impacted crypto markets, with Solana-based proxy tokens linked to AI firms dropping nearly 40% amid regulatory warnings.", "body_md": "# OpenAI offers the US government a 5% stake worth $42.6 billion, and crypto markets are already feeling the ripple effects\n\nSam Altman's company is voluntarily inviting regulation and taxation in a move that could reshape how AI firms interact with Washington, while Solana-based proxy tokens take a beating.\n\nOpenAI is doing something almost unheard of in Silicon Valley: asking the government to take a piece of the company. The AI giant has been in discussions with the Trump administration about handing the US government a 5% equity stake, valued at roughly $42.6 billion based on the company’s $852 billion valuation from March 2026.\n\nThe conversations were first reported by the Financial Times on July 2, and they paint a picture of a company trying to get ahead of the regulatory wave rather than getting swept up in it.\n\nCEO Sam Altman has personally pitched the idea to President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.\n\nThe equity proposal is just one piece of a broader regulatory framework OpenAI laid out in an April 2026 white paper titled “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age.” The document advocated for modernized taxation tied to automated labor and the creation of a public wealth fund designed to spread the economic gains of AI more broadly across society.\n\nOpenAI’s 5% offer looks quite different when you consider what some lawmakers actually want. Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, which would give the public a 50% stake in leading AI companies.\n\nSolana-based proxy tokens that offered indirect exposure to OpenAI and Anthropic shares dropped nearly 40% in May 2026. The decline came after warnings about unauthorized SPV stock transfers, essentially regulators flagging that these tokenized exposure vehicles might not be as legitimate as they appeared.\n\n**Disclosure:** This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our\n\n[Editorial Policy](https://cryptobriefing.com/editorial-policy/).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openai-offers-the-us-government-a-5-stake-worth-42-6-billion-and-crypto-markets", "canonical_source": "https://cryptobriefing.com/openai-government-stake-regulation-crypto/", "published_at": "2026-07-07 16:04:37+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-07 16:17:12.172486+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy", "ai-ethics", "ai-research"], "entities": ["OpenAI", "Sam Altman", "Trump administration", "Financial Times", "Howard Lutnick", "Bernie Sanders", "Solana", "Anthropic"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openai-offers-the-us-government-a-5-stake-worth-42-6-billion-and-crypto-markets", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openai-offers-the-us-government-a-5-stake-worth-42-6-billion-and-crypto-markets.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openai-offers-the-us-government-a-5-stake-worth-42-6-billion-and-crypto-markets.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openai-offers-the-us-government-a-5-stake-worth-42-6-billion-and-crypto-markets.jsonld"}}