Storming the digital barricades with unambiguous fervor, Vice President JD Vance has positioned himself as cryptocurrency’s most powerful advocate, declaring an administrative crusade against what he characterizes as regulatory overreach into the burgeoning digital asset space.
During his landmark keynote at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference—marking the first time a sitting vice president has addressed such a gathering—Vance pledged to dismantle the regulatory apparatus that crypto proponents have long decried as stifling innovation.
“Operation Chokepoint 2.0 is dead,” Vance proclaimed to thunderous applause, referencing the perceived coordinated effort by federal agencies to restrict banking access for crypto companies. His promise to fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler—whose tenure has been marked by aggressive enforcement actions against crypto firms—served as the rhetorical centerpiece of an address that pulled no punches.
Operation Chokepoint 2.0 lies vanquished, with Gensler’s SEC reign squarely in the administration’s crosshairs.
The Vice President’s Vegas appearance underscores the Trump administration’s recognition of crypto’s growing political clout, a force they credit with contributing to recent Republican victories.
Vance framed digital assets not merely as investment vehicles but as bulwarks against governmental financial control—a hedge, as he put it, “regardless of which party holds power.” The Vice President emphasized the growing mainstream adoption with approximately 50 million Americans now owning bitcoin and projections indicating this number could double in coming years.
Critics, however, question whether the administration’s crypto enthusiasm might be colored by conflicts of interest, noting the Trump family’s increased participation in digital asset ventures and conferences.
Vance’s vision positions the United States as the would-be “crypto capital” of the world, a status he contends has been jeopardized by overzealous bureaucrats whose regulatory approach he characterized as democracy-inhibiting rather than consumer-protecting.
His optimism for the sector seems bolstered by Bitcoin’s remarkable performance, with its market cap now exceeding $1.7 trillion and contributing significantly to the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem.
His administration’s promised regulatory rollback would presumably include a streamlined framework for stablecoins and other digital assets.
The political metamorphosis of cryptocurrency—from fringe technology to Washington battleground—finds its apotheosis in Vance’s fiery rhetoric. As he admonished the crowd to remain politically engaged to safeguard their financial sovereignty, the message was clear: in the Trump-Vance White House, crypto has found its champion, and the regulatory old guard its nemesis.
