Vance Talks Up Crypto in Vegas -- What Does That Mean?

Debra Saunders on May 30, 2025

WASHINGTON -- Vice President JD Vance spoke the language of love to cryptocurrency investors Wednesday when he proclaimed at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas, "We reject regulators."

As the veep sees it, Bitcoin is not just a good investment; it's also good for the country. Crypto, he argued, "is a hedge against bad policymaking in Washington."

And "Crypto finally has a champion and an ally in the White House."

True that. Trump Media, with its top gun in the Oval Office, announced it is raising $2.5 billion to invest in Bitcoin.

For some of us chickens, President Donald Trump's alliance with crypto is not quite cause for celebration.

Yes, I realize that Big Money's practice of debanking payday lenders, gun-related businesses and other unglamorous pursuits put big banks in the right's crosshairs. Preening lefties in corporate boardrooms used their clout to marginalize those whose business pursuits and politics they found distasteful.

In Vance's Vegas speech, you see the blowback.

Still, I'm old enough to wonder if Uncle Sam should create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, as Trump announced in March.

Politically this may be savvy. Democratic strategist Darry Sragow of California recognizes "significant correlations between crypto fans" and conservatives, who like the freedom and privacy of crypto.

"As a practical matter and politically, it's a mistake to crush it into the ground," Sragow noted.

But, Sragow added, "economically I don't see how you can make the case" for government backing Bitcoin. Crypto is a highly speculative venture in its infancy.

In a 2018 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, Warren Buffett famously referred to Bitcoin as "probably rat poison squared."

"In terms of cryptocurrencies, generally, I can say with almost certainty that they will come to a bad ending," the Oracle of Omaha warned.

Other investors have a bigger stomach for risk. Bitcoin 2025 attendees Meshawn and Matthew Maddock of Detroit told the Review-Journal their investment in crypto was fabulous. And Meshawn added, "It was money we could afford to lose if we had to lose."

Spending taxpayer money on what is arguably corporate welfare should have a higher standard.

During Trump's first term, big news organizations were fixated on how foreign concerns and corporate interests spent money at the Trump International Hotel D.C.

You'd never guess that, according to Bloomberg, Trump was the only president to lose money during his first term in office.

With crypto, however, Trump stands to enjoy a huge payday.

I can't help but look at the Trump-crypto bromance through the lens of Solyndra, which some readers may recall.

In 2010, then-President Barack Obama visited the Bay Area solar-panel manufacturer, where he proclaimed, "The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra." His administration granted Solyndra a $535 million federal loan guarantee.

In 2011, Solyndra filed for bankruptcy.

Lesson: A nod from Washington is no guarantee.

David R. Burton of the Heritage Foundation had been highly critical of the Biden administration's "extraordinarily aggressive" handling of crypto. He told me, "It is my expectation that the administration will start to clean up the mess" with more transparency and simple rules.

Or as Vance said in Vegas, "There's a new sheriff in town."

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.

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