Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, is known for his tough working class upbringing, his time in the US Marine Corps, and his past criticism of Trump. However, the business world is more interested in his previous career in venture capital and his views on commerce, and what they could mean if Trump were to return to the White House.
One aspect that has caught the attention of the sector is Vance’s strong support for cryptocurrency. This has raised hopes that a second Trump administration could be positive for the asset class. In May, Trump became the first major presidential candidate to accept donations in crypto-assets, accumulating almost $3 million worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Trump expressed his ambitions to support the US crypto industry, stating that it was not going away and that China was likely to take advantage of it if the US did not. This statement, coupled with the news of an assassination attempt on Trump, resulted in a rise in the value of crypto assets, with Bitcoin increasing by more than 8% on Monday alone.
As Trump’s running mate, Vance is a strong advocate for crypto, with previous reports showing that he owned holdings of Bitcoin worth between $100,000 to $250,000 on the Coinbase platform. However, a video from 2022 has resurfaced, showing Vance criticizing Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), America’s main financial regulator. In the video, Vance refers to Gensler as “the worst person” to be in charge of US financial regulation, stating that he injects politics into the industry. Vance has also tweeted approvingly of crypto as a way of combatting government overreach, citing the Canadian finance minister’s freezing of bank accounts belonging to truckers protesting against COVID lockdowns.
Vance has also joined other Republican senators in writing to Gensler to highlight an enforcement action against crypto miner Debt Box, in which SEC lawyers used false statements to justify freezing the company’s assets. He has also voted to reverse accounting guidelines introduced by the SEC, which require publicly traded banks to place digital assets held in custody on their balance sheets. This rule change is expected to increase the cost for banks taking custody of crypto assets, potentially deterring them from doing so. However, President Biden vetoed attempts to overturn the rule change.
In Vance, the US would have a strongly pro-crypto vice-president with extensive knowledge of the tech industry. After law school, he worked for Mithril Capital, a venture capital firm co-founded and backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, who also backed Vance’s run for the US Senate in 2020. Vance then went on to work for Revolution, a VC firm in Washington DC, before launching his own VC firm, Narya Capital, in 2019. Axios has reported that Narya Capital’s backers include Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Vance’s connections in Silicon Valley have resulted in big names like Andreessen and Elon Musk pledging significant sums to the Trump campaign since his nomination.
However, Vance is not a conventional “tech bro.” He has previously suggested that big tech companies have too much power and called for their breakup. He has also praised Lina Khan, the Democrat chair of the Federal Trade Commission, for her efforts in trying to rein in the tech giants, even as some of his fellow Republicans have criticized her for being too aggressive towards them. This suggests that Vance’s approach to tech is more nuanced than some may assume. He appears to be welcoming to disruptors and start-ups, but hostile towards tech giants that inhibit consumer choice.
If Vance were to become vice-president, his views on tech and commerce would undoubtedly lead to interesting discussions with the sector. But for now, the focus remains on how his potential role in a second Trump administration could impact the future of cryptocurrency.
