Roughly 50 million Americans now own bitcoin, Vance said, predicting that the figure would soon reach 100 million. But he also named the Biden administration and former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler as enemies of the industry, and pledged to fire other regulators like Gensler.

“We reject regulators,” Vance said. “Maybe the most important thing that we did for this community, we reject regulators, and we fired Gary Gensler, and we’re going to fire everybody like him.”

Vance went on to warn that future overregulation could send crypto investment and innovation overseas.

“The future is going to be decided by the people, by you, not by unelected bureaucrats,” he added.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be a hedge against “bad policymaking from Washington,” Vance argued, while the industry’s champions are “digital pioneers of the American economy.”

Ahead of the speech, the Trump Media & Technology Group announced agreements with 50 investors to raise roughly $2.5 billion in capital to invest in bitcoin.

TMTG, the company behind President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform, announced that the proceeds from the investment would create a bitcoin treasury, a move it hailed as one of the “largest Bitcoin treasury deals of any public company.”

Trump’s eldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, were expected to attend the bitcoin conference along with White House “crypto czar” David Sacks. Trump himself delivered the keynote address at last year’s version of the event.

In his second term, Trump is pushing to make the United States the world’s “crypto capital.” However, the president’s foes charge that his companies are benefiting from pro-crypto White House policies, which have sparked concerns about ethics violations and that such actions could pose a conflict of interest.

“Just last week, Donald Trump threw a lavish dinner for foreign nationals and billionaires funneling money into his crypto scheme to buy favors from the White House,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said. “As Trump continues to skyrocket prices and his GOP works to rip away Americans’ healthcare and food assistance, JD Vance is doubling down on the crypto grift.”

Vance is the first sitting vice president to address a cryptocurrency conference. But ahead of the speech, he headed a political fundraiser for MAGA Inc., requiring a $1 million donation to attend, the Washington Post reported.

He made clear in his remarks that he wants bitcoin backers to be politically active, saying they played a role in Trump’s victory and in Sen. Bernie Moreno’s (R-OH) victory over former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown.

“Don’t ignore politics, because I guarantee you my friends, politics is not going to ignore this community,” Vance said.

Beyond warning that aggressive regulation could wreck the industry in the U.S., Vance specifically touted the GENIUS Act, a cryptocurrency bill making its way through the Senate.

“Once the GENIUS Act is enacted, it’s poised to vastly expand the use of stablecoins as a digital payment system for millions of our fellow Americans,” Vance said. “It will also protect coin holders and inject further transparency into the market.”

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Vance said bitcoin fans tend to be right-leaning politically, while left-leaning minds tend to focus more on artificial intelligence. With that in mind, he urged the conference’s attendees to keep an eye on AI as well.

“My final piece of advice is to make sure you’re keeping tabs on and staying involved in what’s happening with artificial intelligence,” Vance said. “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.”