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Wow. Wow. Wow.

Wow. Wow. You know, I've been to a lot of Bitcoin conferences, but this is definitely the biggest crowd I've ever seen.

Holy cow. So, you know what's cool about this conference is that it's all about making history. So, you know, we're making history because this is the biggest Bitcoin conference we've ever done.

We're expecting 35,000 people to be here today. We're making history because this is the first Bitcoin conference to ever happen. Over $100,000 Bitcoin prices.

You know, a year ago in Nashville, we made history when we had candidate Donald J. Trump come and address this crowd. He He made us some promises.

He promised to end the war on crypto. He promised to free Ross. He promised to never sell our Bitcoin.

He promised a strategic Bitcoin reserve. And he promised to make America the Bitcoin superpower of the world. in a 100 days.

Promises made, promises kept. And today, we get to make a little bit of history this morning by having the first ever sitting vice president of the United States of America address the global Bitcoin community. Are you ready?

With that, join me in welcoming the vice president of the United States of America, JD Vance. Thank you. Thank you all.

Well, first of all, I want to thank Please, please, please thank you guys. Take take your seats. And uh you know, the Secret Service is a little bit nervous because I told them these Bitcoin guys really like guns, but they they they they really like the president, vice president of United States, too.

So, I think we're doing okay. So, I I first have to thank David Bailey. Grateful for everything that you've done for the Bitcoin community.

Thanks in particular for what you did for me and the president helping us get from candidacy to the White House because we've done, I think, a lot of good in the past 120 days. And I don't think we could have done it without David's support. I want to also thank the uh Winkl Voss brothers, Tyler and Cameron.

These guys are out here somewhere who I got to say Tyler and Cameron I I think really helped break the dam in Silicon Valley because if you remember you go back to June or July of last year. It feels like forever ago. It's not even a year ago where Silicon Valley, you know, people would whisper in private that they were going to support Donald Trump for president.

They would talk about the fact the Democrats had gone too crazy. We had to get Gary Gensler the hell out of there. But they weren't quite willing to say But they weren't quite willing to say, at least not publicly, that they were going to take the big step and support Donald J.

Trump. And Cameron and Tyler Winklvoss, I think they were some of the first big names in Silicon Valley to take that step. And a whole host of people followed them.

So Cameron and Tyler, thank you for that. And of course, I want to thank the good people at Coinbase, the organizers of this event, and everybody who made this incredible event possible. It's great to be here with Bitcoin at 108,000, at least when I checked this morning.

And as vice president, United States, it's great to be here. Now, you guys know I get to meet a lot of exciting people in my job, but it's been quite a while since I've been to a conference with this level of energy. I mean, hell, you guys came out here at 9:00 a.

m. after a long night, I'm sure, in Las Vegas. You can't do that without a lot of good energy.

But I I I I promise I'm not just saying that to juice my own meme coins. But I think it's wrong actually to call this just a conference. This isn't a conference of people.

This is a movement. And I'm proud to stand with you here today. And I think this conference, this movement of people is where the future of cryptocurrency in this great country gets decided.

So let's start by making one thing abundantly clear. That future is going to be decided by the people, by you, not by unelected bureaucrats. Now, as you all probably know, you've got a star-studded lineup here today, including several of my colleagues in the Trump administration.

David, Bo, Hester, I know you're all out there. It's great to be among so many friends and allies. So, I want to speak for just a few minutes about a few things and I want to talk a little bit about what we've done in the Trump administration.

I want to give you a rundown of what this administration is doing on digital assets policy. But I also want to talk about some of the principles that help guide us as we develop this policy. But before that, I want to speak about why I'm personally optimistic about crypto and what it means for the American people.

Now, people ask me why I tend to be bullish on the future of innovation in this country. I spent enough time in Silicon Valley to recognize the difference between good tech, technology that boosts our productivity, makes our lives richer, that grounds us in the real world, and complements our day-to-day lives. That's the good technology.

But there's also some bad technology out there. And when it comes to crypto, I think the last several years have made it clear that we're talking about genuine groundup innovation. One that's already improving the well-being of tens of millions of our fellow citizens.

I believe it's 50 million Americans own Bitcoin. And I believe that's going to be 100 million before too long. But it's not just about Bitcoin and about the value that's been generated, the wealth that's been generated by so many millions of our fellow citizens.

Through decentralized finance, crypto has transformed how Americans transact with one another. It's expanded access to banking for many who may not otherwise have had it. And every single day I feel like I see some groundbreaking new use of blockchain tech.

Whether it's in supply chain management, whether it's in hospitals, or whether it's in changing how we track and store patients private health records. But for each of these new forward-looking applications, I also feel like there's an incredibly value conservative element to crypto technology, and that's as a hedge. Crypto is a hedge against bad policymaking from Washington, no matter what parties in control.

It's a hedge against skyrocketing inflation which has eroded savings rate of Americans over the last four years. And as you all know well, it's a hedge against a private sector that's increasingly willing to discriminate against consumers on the basis of their basic beliefs, including their politics. That includes, of course, debanking users for Second Amendment advocacy or for ties to the first Trump administration.

In Canada, the government did the same to kill those big truck driver protests in 2022. Less than a week later, they succeeded. The protests were over.

But maybe most importantly, I see crypto as a hedge against one of the most dangerous trends in the digital era in both the public and private sectors. And that's of elites who rather than innovate themselves prefer to simply take over and co-opt cutting edge technologies to assert their control over other people. And I know we believe this in this room.

That's not Bitcoin. It'll never be Bitcoin. And you guys are going to make sure that happens.

But as you know, there's a new sheriff in town. Because after four years of mistreatment and outright hostility led by Democrat regulators, lawmakers in this country have a choice. Will we lead our nation into a future of financial sovereignty, of innovation, and of prosperity?

Or will we let unelected bureaucrats and foreign competitors write the rules for us? And I'm here today to say loud and clear with President Trump, crypto finally has a champion and an ally in the White House. In our administration, we understand the full potential of the digital assets industry, not just as an investment, not just as a flashy technology, but as a symbol and driver of personal liberty for all our citizens.

And we are dedicated to seeing that promise fulfilled. The way that we see it, the people in this room are the digital pioneers of the American economy. And that's why our administration is doing something a little unusual in Washington.

We're listening to all of you as you blaze the trail of innovation. The innovators in this room are making people's lives better. You're pushing boundaries and solving problems, injecting unprecedented transparency into how we do commerce.

And the way we see it, you all deserve a similar level of transparency and clarity. And most of all, you deserve respect and support from your government, not bureaucrats trying to tear you down. Now, that means a few substantive concrete steps.

And of course, the first and most important of those steps is straightforward. We've got to clean up the wreckage that the last administration left us. And since day one, that is exactly what we've been trying to do.

our administration, we prioritize eliminating the rules, the red tape, and the lawfare that we saw aimed at crypto by our predecessors. We're ending the weaponization of federal regulations against this community. To put it simply, Operation Chokepoint 2.

0 is dead and it's not coming back under the Trump administration. And by the way, it's crazy that was ever even controversial. The idea of using the regulatory power of the government to crush an industry and to crush people who espoused a view that you didn't like.

It's crazy. But let my words today serve as Operation Chokepoint. Let me serve as its obituary.

Now, this now this is my vow to every single person here. You will never see this administration trying to handicap your community or diminish the impact it's had on the economy. Instead, we reject the Biden administration's legacy of death by a thousand enforcement actions.

We reject regulators. Maybe maybe the most important thing that we did for this community, we reject regulators and we fired Gary Ginsler and we're going to fire everybody like him. And we know that people like Gary Gensler, the game that they played is that under the pretense of consumer protection, they attacked every single effort to democratize our financial markets.

And that is over. America, 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 you grew up, what degree you may or may not have.

And in recent years, I'm hardpressed to think of a better place to do so than right here in the digital assets industry. Now, our second substantive step is we're trying to create a clear progrowth legal framework for stable coins in this country. And I know we've got some solid allies in Congress.

Is Cynthia Lumis out there today or she already go home? She already Well, you know, I was supposed to have dinner last night with Cynthia Lumis. We had a little event yesterday and I looked around.

I said, "Where the hell is Cynthia Lumis? " And somebody said, "Well, she's got a dinner she had to go to. " And I said, "I'm the vice president unless she's having dinner with the president.

Cynthia does not have an excuse to skip this event, but but we love Cynthia, and I know that she's one of the great advocates for for your industry in the United States Congress. Now, I know led by Cynthia and other great legislators, Congress is hard at work getting the Genius Act passed and across the president's desk as quickly as possible. And that's an important step.

It's with good reason because regulatory uncertainty in this country has pushed way too much stable coin activity overseas over the last few years. Now, somebody said to me yesterday, I uh that that Bitcoin has done so much over the last few years with so many headwinds. Wouldn't it be nice to have a government that provided some tailwinds to one of the fastest growing industries in our country?

And that's what we aim to do. And once the Genius Act is enacted, it's poised to vastly expand the use of stable coins as a digital payment system for millions of our fellow Americans. It'll also protect coin holders and inject further transparency into the market.

And let me be emphatic on one other point. In this administration, we do not think that stable coins threaten the integrity of the United States dollar. Quite the opposite.

In fact, we view them as a force multiplier of our economic might. Dollar pegs stable coins, particularly once genius is enacted, is only going to help the American economy and it's only going to help the American dollar. So again, we're optimistic that the Senate is able to move quickly on passing a Clean Genius Act and for the House to follow up and do the same.

And of course, once that happens, our great President Trump will sign it into law the minute it comes across his desk. Now, when when that's happened, when the administration will then fully shift to our third priority, which is to enact a transparent and tailored regulatory framework for digital assets, one that's pro- innovation and fully incorporates crypto into the mainstream economy. And again, I've talked to so many of you over the last couple of days, and the consistent fear that I hear with all the great things that have happened over the last couple of of of months, the consistent fear that I hear is that there's still this perception that digital assets are not welcome in the mainstream economy.

And let me promise you that our effort to change the policy is purely about changing that. We want our fellow Americans to know that crypto and digital assets and particularly Bitcoin are part of the mainstream economy and are here to stay. Now, we think the way to do that legislatively because again I I I I hope that our party is in charge for a long time, but nothing is ever guaranteed in politics.

So, the best way to ensure that crypto is part of the mainstream economy is through a market structure bill that champions and doesn't restrict the extraordinary value that Bitcoin and other digital assets represent. Right now, in this Congress and with 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 create regulatory clarity now, we risk chasing this $3 trillion industry offshore in search of a friendlier jurisdiction.

And President Trump is going to fight to make sure that does not happen. Think about this. By locking in smart pro-inovation rules of the road, we can also make sure that Democrats or anybody else never wage another war on the crypto community.

Now, I've already hit my time here, but before I head back to Washington, let me offer you just a few bits of advice and a few thoughts on where this industry is going. This is one politician's perspective, so take it for what it's worth. Maybe a little bit less than one Bitcoin right now.

But let me say a few things. First of all, I remember when I ran for Senate, the first time I had ever entered politics back in 2022. And one of the frustrations honestly that I had with the crypto community as a person who was one of the only people running for office who actually owned Bitcoin, and I still own a fair amount of Bitcoin today, Think about this.

This is during that campaign. That's 2021 and 2022. This feels like an eternity ago, but it was only four years ago.

Is that I recognized what so many advocates of Bitcoin recognized, which is what the the Biden administration was doing, what Gary Gensler was doing was a disaster. And yet there didn't seem to be any real organization pushing back against it at the political level. And let me say that part of the reason that I'm standing here, part of the reason that Bernie Marino defeated Shared Brown in the Senate campaign last year is because you guys got organized and got involved in American politics.

And I'm grateful to you for that. But but there's a lesson to take from that experience which is that unless you guys get involved in politics, politics is going to ignore this industry. Now you took a big step in 2024 and I tell you every victory that we win it's only a provisional victory.

You know, one of my great meners in Silicon Valley always told me that, you know, Bitcoin that the crypto community was about exit and artificial intelligence was about voice. Well, I know that a lot of people in 2024 in this community chose voice. You chose to speak up and you chose to get involved and I believe you changed the direct trajectory of our country because of it.

But you got to keep on choosing voice. You know, Bitcoin of course is people call it digital gold. But while Bitcoin is digital, none of you are, none of us are.

What happens in the world of politics, what happens in the world of bureaucracy, it will affect even the most transformational and valuable technologies if we don't make the right decisions. So the first piece of advice, the first thing that I'd ask you is to take the momentum of your political involvement in 2024 and carry it forward to 2026 and beyond. Don't ignore politics because I guarantee you, my friends, politics is not going to ignore this community.

Not now and not in the future. The second thing that I want to toss out there is that we have to start thinking of the long-term strategic implications of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is owned by about 50 million Americans.

A lot of Americans have made a lot of money, have created a lot of wealth for themselves, and that's a great thing. But I actually think that where Bitcoin is going is as a strategically important asset for the United States over the next decade. It's one of the reasons why President Trump with the help of of our great AI guy David Saxs.

It's one of the reasons why we started the Bitcoin Reserve because we want to start to put in motion the strategic importance of Bitcoin for the United States government. We know that the PRC doesn't like Bitcoin. The People's Republic of China doesn't like Bitcoin.

Well, we should be asking ourselves, why is that? Why is our biggest adversary such an opponent of Bitcoin? And if the Communist Republic of China is leaning away from Bitcoin, then maybe the United States ought to be leaning into Bitcoin.

And that's one of the things that we're going to be doing. But that's not a vice president standing up here and talking at you. The way that Bitcoin is involved in the strategic future of our country, that's got to be a two-way conversation.

And so when I talk about getting involved in politics, one of the things that you guys got to do is continue to give us feedback and continue to tell us the ways in which Bitcoin can play a positive role in the strategic future of this country. I know the Bitcoin Policy Institute is working on this very topic now, but all of you have got to be involved in this conversation because I don't think any of us want to wake up in a country 10 years from now that is less wealthy and less prosperous because we made bad decisions today. We're going to make the right decisions, but that depends on you guys being part of the conversation.

So, be part of that conversation. And here's and here's the third thought that I I want to leave you with. You know, one of the ways you hear this stated is that crypto is fundamentally a conservative or right-leaning technology and artificial intelligence is fundamentally a left-leaning or a communist technology.

Now, I think that overstates things a little bit in both directions, but there there's a fundamental element of truth to it. Now, I haven't been involved in in the day-to-day operations of a technology company in about four years since I entered politics for the very first time. But what I've noticed is that very smart right-wing people in tech tend to be attracted to Bitcoin and crypto and very smart left-leaning people in tech tend to be more attracted to AI.

Again, that's a gross generalization. It's an overstatement, but there's an element of truth to it. But what I'd ask you all is to remember that what happens in AI is very much going to affect in good and bad ways what happens to Bitcoin.

And of course, what happens to Bitcoin is very much going to affect what happens in AI. So, while this is certainly a Bitcoin conference, and I know we're all proud of what you guys have accomplished over the last 10 years, my final piece of advice is to make sure you're keeping tabs on and staying involved in what's happening with artificial intelligence because I don't want Bitcoin to be negatively affected by what happens in AI. And most importantly, I don't want America to be negatively affected by what happens in AI.

And the best way to ensure that smart people are at the AI conversation is to ensure that Bitcoin is part of the artificial intelligence conversation. Our administration is committed to it. I want you guys to be committed to it as well.

I just want to say in the next few years in the Trump administration, we've accomplished a lot, but we have plans to continue to make big progress for this industry and for the American people who rely on it. The whole of government, we're going to need your help. We're going to need your guidance.

We're going to need your encouragement. And at times, yes, because this is politics, our politicians are going to need your pressure. So have fun this week, but keep the pressure up and we'll do great things together for our industry, but most importantly for the cause of personal freedom and the United States of America.

God bless you guys and thanks for having me. Hello Detroit auto worker. Let me thank you for your time.