Trump Selects Pro-Crypto Senator JD Vance as VP for 2024 Presidential Bid

Trump Picks Pro-Crypto Senator JD Vance as His 2024 Vice Presidential Candidacy

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has announced Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate for the 2024 election. Trump made the announcement via Truth Social on July 15, announcing that the Ohio senator will join his slate as the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee.

Vance is known as a strong supporter of cryptocurrencies, according to Coinbase’s Stand With Crypto initiative. In his 2022 financial disclosure for the U.S. Senate, Vance reported holding between $100,001 and $250,000 worth of Bitcoin through crypto exchange Coinbase. He also supported a joint resolution to overturn the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule requiring banks to report crypto as a liability on their balance sheets, a measure that President Joe Biden ultimately vetoed.

Vance, the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” has been in politics for less than two years after winning an Ohio Senate seat in 2022. Trump endorsed Vance in the 2022 midterm elections, and Vance endorsed Trump in the 2024 Republican primary. The endorsement is notable given Vance’s past criticisms of Trump, in which he called him “unfit” for presidency, claimed he “never liked him,” and called Trump voters “idiots.”

Vance’s election comes at a time when crypto and blockchain are becoming major issues in the 2024 campaign. Trump has already announced that his campaign will accept crypto contributions and has convinced the Republican Party to adopt a platform that defends Bitcoin miners and opposes central bank digital currencies.