The senator, former venture capitalist and author of Hillbilly Elegy—a memoir of his white, working class upbringing in Ohio’s rust-belt—has personal stakes in the legitimizing of crypto. Vance owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in Bitcoin on the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, according to a financial disclosure by Vance last year. In addition, Vance owns a brokerage account with Robinhood, up to $250,000 in a gold ETF, up to $100,000 in a crude oil ETF and up to $250,000 in a checking account with brokerage Charles Schwab. 

According to his most recent financial disclosure last year, Trump’s Vice President pick @JDVance1 is a bitcoiner. pic.twitter.com/p5h7EWOIE6

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) July 15, 2024

Vance’s pro-crypto track record

Vance has made no secret of being a crypto-friendly voice on Capitol Hill. Politico reported last month that Vance was circulating draft legislation that would revamp how the U.S. regulates digital assets. Vance’s plan would overhaul how the SEC and the CFTC police the crypto market, and make the current policy more industry-friendly. 

Last year, Vance also introduced a bill that would try to protect banks from succumbing to regulatory pressure to cut off services to crypto firms, Politico reported. To do this, Vance’s bill would prohibit regulators from citing “reputational risk” when taking action against lenders. On top of this, in 2021, Vance issued a statement opposing the Portman-Warner-Sinema amendment that was proposed in the Infrastructure Bill, accusing it of ushering in “mass surveillance” of the crypto industry and a “backdoor ban” of Bitcoin. Crypto is “one of the few sectors of our economy where conservatives and free thinkers can operate without pressure from the social justice mob,” he added.

The crypto election

Crypto has taken on an increasingly significant role in Trump’s campaign over recent months, and the candidate has been explicit in recent months about in his desire to emerge as the “crypto president.” For example, this week the organizers of Bitcoin 2024 announced that Trump will speak at the annual conference, a tribal gathering for fans of the original cryptocurrency, which will take place this month in Nashville. 

All of this is a major shift for Trump who in 2021 told Fox Business in 2021 that Bitcoin “just seems like a scam.”

Trump’s efforts to court crypto stems from increasing evidence that the crypto voter is a real demographic. A Harris Poll survey published in May found that one-fifth of voters in swing states “consider cryptocurrency policies as a topic important enough to sway their support.”

In an election that has consistently been close, a few hundred thousand votes in swing states could make the difference. Moreover, crypto has money for the right candidates. Political action committees Fairshake and Stand With Crypto have together raised over $357 million to spend lobbying pro-crypto policy makers, in a desperate bid to oust the current SEC administration that has been unapologetically hostile towards crypto.