JD Vance: "Crypto finally has a champion" in the White House
Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday touted the Trump administration's ties with the cryptocurrency industry — a once-fringe business that President Trump and his allies have embraced in recent months.
"I'm here today to say loud and clear, with President Trump, crypto finally has a champion and an ally in the White House," Vance told the Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Las Vegas.
The Trump administration has leaned into cryptocurrency, looking to ease regulations, promote growth in the industry, and bring it into the mainstream. A longstanding backer of cryptocurrencies, Vance owned between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of Bitcoin, according to an August 2024 financial disclosure.
"We want our fellow Americans to know that crypto and digital assets and particularly Bitcoin, are part of the mainstream economy, and are here to stay," Vance said Wednesday.
Vance said it's been a while since he's been to a conference with "this level of energy," adding, "but I promise I'm not just saying that to juice my own memecoins." Vance gave few policy specifics in his speech. But he insisted that, through decentralized finance, crypto has "transformed" how Americans make transactions and acts as a "hedge" against bad policy.
"Crypto is a hedge against bad policymaking from Washington, no matter what party's in control," he said. "It's a hedge against skyrocketing inflation, which has eroded the real savings rates of Americans over the last four years. And as you all know well, it's a hedge against a private sector that's increasingly willing to discriminate against consumers on the basis of their basic beliefs, including their politics."
Vance urged Congress to pass the GENIUS Act, which would create a regulatory framework for stablecoins. Stablecoins are a type of crypto tied to an underlying asset such as the U.S. dollar.
"In this administration, we do not think that stablecoin's threatened the integrity of the United States dollar, quite the opposite," Vance said Wednesday. "In fact, we view them as a force multiplier of our economic might."
Vance said he knows a lot of people in 2024 chose to "speak up" and "get involved," and he needs them to step up again.
"Unless you guys get involved in politics, politics is going to ignore this industry," Vance said. "... While Bitcoin is digital, none of you are. None of us are. What happens in the world of politics, what happens in the world of bureaucracy, it will affect even the most transformational and valuable technologies if we don't make the right decisions. So the first piece of advice, the first thing that I'd ask you, is to take the momentum of your political involvement in 2024 and carry it forward to 2026 and beyond."
The Las Vegas event is also featuring a handful of other Trump backers: His two eldest sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who have invested in crypto ventures, are speaking Wednesday on a panel about "the rise of new bitcoin business models." Chris LaCivita, who co-managed Mr. Trump's 2024 campaign, and David Sacks, a venture capitalist who serves as the White House's crypto czar, spoke on Tuesday.
Vance is the highest-ranking sitting politician to address the Bitcoin Conference, which describes itself as "the world's largest gathering of bitcoiners" and often draws crypto-friendly lawmakers. Mr. Trump, then a presidential candidate, was the headline speaker last year.
Vance headlined a fundraiser hosted by MAGA Inc. on Tuesday night in Las Vegas, where tickets were priced at $1 million a head, CBS News has learned. The fundraiser was first reported by The Washington Post.
Bitcoin — and cryptocurrency more generally — has grown in prominence and drawn allies from both parties, despite skepticism about its volatility. The price of Bitcoin, the world's most widely used cryptocurrency, has leaped nearly 60% in the last year.
Mr. Trump was once a crypto skeptic, calling Bitcoin a "scam" whose value is "based on thin air." But in his second term, he has enthusiastically boosted crypto and promised to reverse strict Biden-era regulations.
Mr. Trump and his family also have financial interests in crypto, which makes up $2.9 billion of his net worth, according to one recent report. Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, announced Tuesday it is raising $2.5 billion to invest in Bitcoin.
Meanwhile, businesses linked to the president launched a Trump-branded "meme coin" earlier this year, and Mr. Trump hosted the digital currency's top investors at his Virginia golf club last week. The president and his sons are linked to crypto exchange World Liberty Financial. And Eric Trump co-founded a Bitcoin mining venture that's seeking to go public.
The moves have drawn criticism from Democrats and some ethics experts who argue Mr. Trump's crypto ventures pose a conflict of interest, and investing in them could be a quick route to gaining access to the president.
The GENIUS Act, the once-bipartisan Senate bill aimed at regulating stablecoins, bled support after Democratic lawmakers pushed for restrictions on elected officials buying or selling crypto — with some Democrats directly citing Mr. Trump's crypto investments. Senators ultimately voted to advance the bill earlier this month.
The White House has strongly denied any conflict-of-interest issues, saying Mr. Trump's assets are held in a trust managed by his children.
Joe Walsh is a senior editor for digital politics at CBS News. Joe previously covered breaking news for Forbes and local news in Boston.
Olivia Rinaldi contributed to this report.
Cbs News
