Trump's choice of running mate J.D. Vance is not simple, Silicon Valley VC + crypto ally "Buff" supports

24-07-16 10:36

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Original title: "Silicon Valley tycoon + Bitcoin Holder? Learn about Trump's running mate J.D. Vance in one article"

Original author: Mary Liu, BitpushNews

On July 15, 2024, local time, former US President Donald Trump has selected Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his vice presidential running mate for the 2024 election. This is another tough statement by the Republican Party's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) faction, which is bound to shake up an already unprecedented election year.

Vance's qualifications can be said to be impeccable: he served in the Marine Corps, has a degree from Yale Law School, and has deep connections in Silicon Valley. He is the most representative figure of "America First" populism and a potential promoter of Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.

According to the Wall Street Journal, if Trump is elected, Vance, who will turn 40 in August, will become one of the youngest vice presidents in U.S. history.

Crypto Ally + Bitcoin Holder?

What excites the crypto community is that Vance is likely to be a pro-crypto ally.

J.D. Vance disclosed in his mandatory annual report for the 2022 calendar year, filed in October 2023, that as of 2022, he owned between $100,001 and $250,000 worth of Bitcoin, which he held through Coinbase.

In addition, Vance has opened accounts at brokerage firms Robinhood and Charles Schwab.

The vice presidential candidate has not yet filed a financial disclosure for 2023. According to Cincinnati.com, his current estimated net worth is at least $5 million and at most $10.5 million.

The Ohio Republican has been reportedly supportive of the cryptocurrency industry and critical of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Last year, Vance and other Republican lawmakers wrote to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, expressing concerns about inaccurate statements made by the agency in a lawsuit against cryptocurrency startup DEBT Box.

Vance also criticized the Canadian government's decision to freeze the bank accounts of people associated with the 2022 Ottawa Trucker protest. He posted at the time: "This is why crypto is booming, if you have the wrong political views, the regime will cut off your access to banking services."

Vance is also a member of the Senate Banking Committee and, as Politico reported last month, he is drafting a bill to regulate the industry and plans to introduce it in July. On the House side, lawmakers passed a bill in May to comprehensively regulate cryptocurrencies. The bill, called FIT21, would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) more power and funding to oversee cryptocurrency spot markets and "digital commodities," especially Bitcoin.

According to Politico, Vance plans to make improvements to FIT21 and take a friendlier approach to the industry.

What does this mean for crypto voters?

In the most immediate sense, two leading members of the U.S. presidential field have both made clear their support for the industry — a first in history.

“Former President Trump made it clear that supporting our homegrown digital asset entrepreneurs would be a top priority if he wins a second term,” Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith said Monday. “Senator Vance is an emerging voice for crypto legislation that supports innovation and is an ideal candidate to lead the Republican crypto cause. We are pleased to see that support for crypto is becoming a litmus test for political candidates.”

Enemy turns ally? Vance’s political stance has changed significantly over the years: He denounced Trump as “America’s Hitler” in 2016, and during a promotion for his book Hillbilly Elegy, Vance called himself a “Never Trumper” in an interview with Charlie Rose, saying, “I never liked him” of the incoming president. He told NPR that year, “I can’t stand Trump.” He also wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled, “Mr. Trump is unfit for the highest office in our country.” Later, Vance became one of the former president’s most loyal followers, and his political stance seems to have changed largely in line with the Republican base.

Silicon Valley connections become a "ride" for politics

Vance, 39, has been a venture capitalist for many years, and his career in business has been more than in politics.

According to public information, after graduating from Yale Law School in 2013, Vance lived in San Francisco for a while and worked at Mithril Capital. The company was co-founded by Peter Thiel and Ajay Royan, former CEO of PayPal and a long-time large financial supporter of the Republican Party.

He also spent some time in Washington, DC, working at Revolution LLC, the venture capital firm of former AOL CEO Steve Case, responsible for a project to expand capital opportunities to towns such as Middleton, Ohio (Vance's birthplace).

“J.D. Vance has become a leading voice for people across the country who feel left behind, so he’s the perfect person to help us expand Rise Of The Rest,” Case said in 2017.

It was also during this period that Vance published a memoir in 2016, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis” (Hillbilly Elegy, mentioned above), which became a New York Times bestseller and made him famous.

In 2020, he reportedly launched his own fund, Narya Capital, backed by Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Eric Schmidt, and Scott Dorsey, among others. The Cincinnati-based company was established to bring capital from the East Coast to states such as Ohio for investment.

Vance then entered politics and won a U.S. Senate seat representing Ohio in 2022.

This was largely thanks to Trump's support, according to the Wall Street Journal. He established a staunch populist image in Washington, opposed foreign engagement and trade agreements, and forged a friendship with Donald Trump Jr., which put him in an advantageous position during the election.

Vance's experience in Silicon Valley enabled him to establish relationships with many technology entrepreneurs and helped some of them "get closer" to Trump, according to the Wall Street Journal.

After Trump left office, Vance became more involved with the former president, starting with a meeting at Mar-a-Lago in the spring of 2021, along with venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Vance was the only senator to oppose a NATO-backed no-fly zone over Ukraine, according to a mutual friend, and his comments caught the attention of Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

When Vance began attacking the Republican "neoconservatives," Trump Jr. began defending him in public, including with his father. Within weeks, Trump Sr. expressed his support for Vance to ensure his victory in the May 2022 primary, and both Trump Jr. and Vance said they have become close personal friends.

The young and promising Vance is likely to help boost the Republican Party's appeal in Midwestern states, including working-class voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and more.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said: "Trump needs a vice president with innovative ideas and the ability to express them to every American voter, and Senator JD Vance fits the bill perfectly. Now is the time to unite our country. We are eager to expand our majority in the House of Representatives and use this opportunity to make America great again."