'This is a movement': VP Vance addresses Las Vegas bitcoin conference

Ricardo Torres-Cortez, Las Vegas Review-Journal on May 28, 2025

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LAS VEGAS — Vice President JD Vance told thousands of cryptocurrency enthusiasts at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference on the Las Vegas Strip on Wednesday morning that “this isn’t a conference of people; this is a movement.”

“This conference, this movement of people is where the future of cryptocurrency in this country gets started,” Vance said from the Venetian Convention Center.

The keynote speech, which clocked in at about 25 minutes, took place during the second morning of the three-day convention, which is touted as the “largest Bitcoin focused event.”

More than 35,000 attendees were expected Wednesday, according to BTC Inc. founder and Nakamoto CEO David Bailey, who introduced the vice president.

“We’re making history,” said the tech CEO, noting that this was the first bitcoin conference in which the digital currency’s value had surpassed $100,000 per coin.

“It’s great to be here with bitcoin at $108,000, at least when I checked this morning,” quipped Vance, who noted he owned cryptocurrency himself.

Vance spoke about the cryptocurrency community’s embrace of President Donald Trump’s winning campaign and what his administration is doing to unshackle the industry.

“You will never see this administration trying to handicap your community or diminish the impact it’s had on the economy,” Vance said. “Instead we reject the Biden administration’s legacy of death by a thousand enforcement actions. We reject regulators.”

Vance noted that Trump replaced Gary Gensler as chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“And we’re going to fire everybody like him,” he said.

Several members of congress and White House officials were scheduled to speak at the convention, as well as Trump’s two elder sons, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump.

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