If Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November, America will have its first crypto Vice President. Trump announced on Monday afternoon that Bitcoin-owning Ohio Senator JD Vance will be his running mate “after lengthy deliberation and thought,” according to a post on his Truth Social network.
The senator, former venture capitalist and author of Hillbilly Elegy—a memoir of his white, working class upbringing in Ohio’s rust-belt—has personal stakes in the legitimizing of crypto. Vance owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in Bitcoin on the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, according to a financial disclosure by Vance last year. In addition, Vance owns a brokerage account with Robinhood, up to $250,000 in a gold ETF, up to $100,000 in a crude oil ETF and up to $250,000 in a checking account with brokerage Charles Schwab.
