Full text of U.S. Vice President JD Vance's speech at Bitcoin 2025

Source: Speech by U.S. Vice President JD Vance at Bitcoin 2025 Conference; Compiled by AIMan@Golden Finance

You know, the Secret Service was a little nervous because I told them that these Bitcoin guys really like guns, but they also really like the President and Vice President of the United States, so I think we're fine.

So I want to first thank David Bailey for everything you've done for the Bitcoin community. Especially thank you for everything you've done for me and the President to help us get from the candidate stage to the White House, because we've really done a lot of good things in the past 120 days, and I don't think we could have done it without David's support.

I also want to thank the Winklevoss brothers, Tyler and Cameron. These guys were somewhere on the scene. I have to say, Tyler and Cameron, I think they really helped break the deadlock in Silicon Valley. Because if you remember, back in June or July of last year, it felt like a long time ago, but it was actually less than a year. At that time, people in Silicon Valley would whisper privately that they were going to support Donald Trump for president, and they would talk about how the Democrats had gone too crazy and had to get rid of Gary Gensler, but they were not yet willing to say it, at least publicly, that they were going to take that big step and support Donald J. Trump. And Tyler and Cameron, I think they were some of the first big people in Silicon Valley to take that step, and then a large number of people followed. So, Tyler and Cameron, thank you.

Of course, I also want to thank the great people at Coinbase, the organizers of this event, and everyone who made this incredible event possible. It's great to be here, and when I checked this morning, the price of Bitcoin was at least $108,000. It's great to be here as the Vice President of the United States.  

You know, I meet a lot of exciting people in my work, but I haven't been to a meeting as dynamic as this in a long time. You all showed up at 9am after a long night in Vegas, and you couldn't do this without a lot of energy. But I promise, I'm not just saying this to hype my own meme coins.

But I think it would be wrong to call this just a conference. This is not a conference of one person, this is a movement. I'm proud to stand with you today.  

I believe that this conference, this people's movement, will determine the future of cryptocurrency in this great country. So let's be clear first: the future will be determined by the people, by you, not by unelected bureaucrats.  

As you probably all know, I have a star-studded cast here today, including several of my colleagues in the Trump administration. David Sacks, Bo Hines, Hester Peirce, I know you're all here, and it's great to be with so many friends and allies.

So, I want to take a few minutes to talk about a few things, I want to talk about some of the work we've done in the Trump Administration, I want to give you a brief overview of the Administration's progress on digital asset policy, but I also want to talk about some of the principles that have guided us in developing that policy.

What Bitcoin Means for the American People

But before I do that, I want to talk about why I'm personally optimistic about cryptocurrency and what it means for the American people.

People ask me why I'm so bullish about the future of innovation in this country. I've been in Silicon Valley long enough to discern good technology - technology that makes us more productive, enriches our lives, grounds us in the real world, and supplements our daily lives. That's good technology. But there's also bad technology. When it comes to cryptocurrency, I think the last few years have made it clear that we're talking about real bottom-up innovation that has improved the well-being of tens of millions of our fellow citizens. I believe 50 million Americans own Bitcoin, and I believe that number will soon reach 100 million.  

But this is about more than just Bitcoin, more than just the value and wealth created by millions of our fellow citizens through decentralized finance. Cryptocurrency has changed the way Americans transact with one another, and it has expanded access to many who might not otherwise have access to banking services. Every day, I feel like I see some groundbreaking new application for blockchain technology, whether it's in supply chain management, hospitals, or changing the way we track and store patients' private health records.

But for every one of these forward-thinking new applications, I also feel there is a very valuable conservative element to crypto, and that is as a hedge. Cryptocurrency is a hedge against bad decisions in Washington, no matter which party is in power. It is a hedge against the surging inflation that has eroded Americans' real savings rates over the past four years.And, as you all know, it is a hedge against the private sector's growing willingness to discriminate against consumers based on their fundamental beliefs, including their political affiliations.

This certainly includes de-banking users for supporting the Second Amendment or having ties to the first Trump administration. In Canada, the government did the same thing to stifle those big 2022 trucker protests. Within a week, they succeeded and the protests were over.

But perhaps most importantly, I see cryptocurrencies as a hedge against one of the most dangerous trends in the public and private sectors of the digital age, and that is elites who, rather than innovate themselves, prefer to simply take over and co-opt cutting-edge technology to maintain their control over everyone else.  

I know all of you in this room believe that Bitcoin will never be that way, and you will make sure of that.  

But as you know, new officials are in office. Because after four years of abuse and outright hostility led by Democrat regulators, lawmakers across this country face a choice: lead our nation toward a future of financial sovereignty, innovation, and prosperity, or let unelected bureaucrats and foreign rivals write the rules for us?

I am here today to say loud and clear that under President Trump, cryptocurrency finally has a champion and ally in the White House. In our administration, we understand the full potential of the digital asset industry as more than an investment, more than a flashy technology, but as a symbol and driver of personal freedom for all citizens. We are committed to delivering on that promise. In our eyes, you are the digital pioneers of the American economy. That’s why our administration is doing something unusual in Washington: We are listening to all of you, listening to your voices as you blaze a trail for innovation. Innovators in this room are improving people’s lives, you are pushing boundaries, solving problems, and injecting unprecedented transparency into the way we do business. In our view, you all deserve the same level of transparency and clarity you get from your government, and most importantly, you deserve a government that respects and supports you, not bureaucrats trying to shut you down.  

Three Crypto Actions: Ending Operation Chokepoint 2.0, the Genius Act, and the Digital Asset Regulation Act

That means some substantive, concrete steps.

Ending Operation Chokepoint 2.0

Of course, the first and most important of those steps is simple: we have to clean up the mess left by the last administration. That’s exactly what we’ve been working to do since day one. Our administration has made it a priority to eliminate the rules, red tape, and legal battles we saw our predecessors wreak on cryptocurrency. We are ending the weaponization of federal regulations against this community. Simply put, Operation Chokepoint 2.0 has died, and it’s not coming back under the Trump administration.

By the way, it's crazy that the idea of ​​using government regulatory power to clamp down on an industry, on people who hold views you don't like, was ever controversial. But let my remarks today serve as an obituary for Operation Chokehold.  

This is my pledge to every one of you in this room: You will never see this administration try to handicap your communities or undermine their impact on the economy. Instead, we reject the Biden administration's legacy of law enforcement by a thousand cuts. We reject regulators -- and perhaps the most important thing we did for this community was -- we rejected regulators, and we fired Gary Gensler, and we're going to fire everyone like him. We know the game that people like Gary Gensler played was that they attacked every effort to democratize our financial markets under the guise of protecting consumers. That was over.

I grew up in a working-class family. I believe that America is a place where anyone should be able to make a fortune, no matter where they grew up, no matter if they have a degree or not. I’m hard-pressed to think of a better place to be in recent years than the digital asset industry.

Stablecoin Genius Act

Our second substantive step is that we’re working to create a clear, pro-growth legal framework for stablecoins in this country. I know we have some staunch allies in Congress. Is Cynthia Lummis here today? Or has she gone home? I was supposed to have dinner with Cynthia Lummis last night, and we had a little event yesterday, and I looked around and said, “Where the hell is Cynthia Lummis?” Someone said, “Oh, she has a dinner to go to.” I said, “I’m the Vice President.” There’s no reason for Cynthia to be absent from this event unless she’s having dinner with the President. But we love Cynthia, and I know she’s one of the great advocates for your industry in the United States Congress.  

I know that Congress, under the leadership of Cynthia and other excellent lawmakers, is working diligently to get the Genius Act passed and sent to the President for his signature as quickly as possible. This is an important step, and for good reason, because regulatory uncertainty in this country over the past few years has driven so much stablecoin activity overseas.

Someone said to me yesterday that Bitcoin has accomplished so much over the past few years, in the face of so much headwind. It would be great if there was a government that could give one of our nation's fastest-growing industries a little boost. That's exactly what we intend to do. 

Once the Genius Act is enacted, it will greatly expand the use of stablecoins as a digital payment system for millions of our fellow Americans. It will also protect token holders and inject further transparency into the market.

On another point, let me emphasize: In this Administration, we do not view stablecoins as a threat to the integrity of the dollar, quite the contrary. In fact, we view stablecoins as a power multiplier for our economy. A stablecoin pegged to the dollar, especially after the Genius Act is enacted, can only be good for the U.S. economy and can only be good for the dollar.So, again, we are optimistic that the Senate can quickly pass a pure Genius Act and that the House can follow suit. Of course, once that happens, our great President Trump will sign the bill as soon as he receives it.

Digital Asset Regulation Act

When that happens, this Administration will fully turn to our third priority: developing a transparent, tailored regulatory framework for digital assets, one that fosters innovation and fully integrates cryptocurrencies into the mainstream economy.

I want to emphasize again that I have spoken to many of you over the past few days, and despite all the good things that have happened in the past few months, one of the persistent concerns I have heard is that people still do not believe that digital assets are welcome in the mainstream economy. Let me assure you that our efforts to change policy are purely aimed at changing that perception. We want our fellow citizens to know that cryptocurrency and digital assets, especially Bitcoin, are part of the mainstream economy and are here to stay. We believe that the best way to do that through legislation — because again, I hope for a long Republican run, but nothing is ever guaranteed in politics — is to pass a market structure bill that champions, rather than restricts, the extraordinary value that Bitcoin and other digital assets represent. Now, under the leadership of this Congress and this Administration, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to unleash innovation and use it to improve the lives of countless American citizens. But if we fail to establish clear regulatory rules now, we risk driving this $3 trillion industry overseas in search of friendlier jurisdictions. President Trump will work to ensure that does not happen.  

By locking in sensible, innovation-enhancing rules, we can also ensure that Democrats or anyone else can never wage war on the crypto community again.

Three Ideas: Get Involved in Politics, Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, Focus on AI

My speaking time is up, but before I head back to Washington, let me give you some advice and some thoughts on where this industry is headed. This is just one politician's opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, and maybe it's worth less than a bitcoin now.

Crypto Community Please Get Involved in Politics

But let me say a few things. First, I remember when I first ran for Senator, that was my first foray into politics, and that was in 2022. Honestly, one of my gripes with the crypto community is that as one of the few people who actually owned Bitcoin running for public office, and I still own a fair amount of Bitcoin today—think about it, it was during the campaign, 2021 and 2022, it feels like a long time ago, but it was really only four years ago—I recognized, as many Bitcoin advocates recognized, what the Biden administration was doing, what Gary Gensler was doing, it was a disaster. And yet, there didn't seem to be any real organization on a political level fighting back against it. Let me say that part of the reason I'm here today, part of the reason Bernie Moreno beat Sherrod Brown in the Senate race last year, was because you organized and got involved in American politics. And for that, I thank you.

But one lesson to be learned from this experience is that unless you get involved in politics, politics will ignore this industry. You took a big step in 2024, and I tell you, every win we win is only a temporary win. You know, one of my great mentors in Silicon Valley always told me that Bitcoin, the crypto community is about exit, and AI is about voice. I know that in 2024, many of you in this community chose voice, you chose to step up, you chose to get involved. And I believe that because of that, you changed the trajectory of our country. But you have to continue to choose voice. You know, Bitcoin is certainly called digital gold, but while Bitcoin is digital, you are neither, none of us are. What happens in the political world, what happens in the bureaucratic world, it will impact even the most transformative and valuable technologies if we don't make the right decisions. So the first piece of advice, what I would first like to ask you to do is to carry forward the momentum of your political engagement in 2024 into 2026 and beyond. Don't ignore politics, because I promise you, my friends, politics is not ignoring this community now, nor will it be. The second point I want to make is that we have to start thinking about the long-term strategic impact of Bitcoin. There are about 50 million Americans who own Bitcoin, and many Americans have made a lot of money and created a lot of wealth for themselves, which is a good thing. But I actually think that the future direction of Bitcoin is to become an asset of strategic importance to the United States over the next decade. This is one of the reasons why President Trump, with the help of our great artificial intelligence expert David Sacks, started the Bitcoin Reserve, because we want to start promoting the strategic importance of Bitcoin to the US government. We know that China doesn't like Bitcoin. So we should ask ourselves, why? Why is our biggest adversary so opposed to Bitcoin? If China is distancing itself from Bitcoin, then maybe the United States should embrace Bitcoin. This is one of the things we will do.

But it's not just about the Vice President standing here and speaking to you. How Bitcoin can play into the strategic future of our country, this has to be a two-way conversation. So when I talk about engaging in politics, one of the things you have to do is continue to give us feedback, continue to tell us ways that Bitcoin can play a positive role in the strategic future of this country. I know the Bitcoin Policy Institute is working on this right now, but all of you have to be part of this conversation. Because I think none of us want to wake up in 10 years in a country that's less wealthy, less prosperous because we made the wrong decisions today. We're going to make the right decisions, but it's up to you to be part of that conversation. So please be part of that conversation.  

Bitcoin Community Keeps an Eye on AI

Here's the third thought I want to leave you with. You may have heard the argument that cryptocurrency is an inherently conservative or right-leaning technology, and AI is an inherently left-leaning or communist technology. Now, I think that's a bit of an exaggeration in both directions, but there's a fundamental element of truth in it. I haven't been involved in the day-to-day operations of a tech company since I first entered politics about four years ago. But I've noticed that very smart people on the right in tech tend to gravitate toward Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, while very smart people on the left in tech gravitate toward AI. Again, this is a gross generalization and an exaggeration, but there's an element of truth in it.

But I want you to remember that what happens in AI, for better or worse, will greatly influence what happens in Bitcoin. And of course, what happens in Bitcoin will also greatly influence what happens in AI. So while this is certainly a Bitcoin conference, and I know we're all very proud of what you've accomplished over the last decade, my final piece of advice is to make sure you pay close attention and stay engaged in what's happening in AI. Because I don't want Bitcoin to be negatively impacted by what's happening in AI, and most importantly, I don't want the United States to be negatively impacted by what's happening in AI. The best way to make sure smart people are engaged in the conversation about AI is to make sure Bitcoin is part of the conversation about AI. Our government is committed to that, and I hope you're committed to that, too.

Let me just say that we have accomplished a lot, but in the coming years under the Trump Administration, we plan to continue making great progress for this industry and the American people who depend on it. The entire administration needs your help, we need your guidance, we need your encouragement, and sometimes, yes, because this is politics, our politicians need your pressure, too.

So have fun this week, but keep the pressure on, and together we will do great things for our industry, but most importantly, for the cause of individual freedom and the United States of America.