Written by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance
On July 16, 2024, the Republican National Convention officially approved JD Vance as the Republican vice presidential candidate. Trump said that Senator JD Vance is the best candidate for the vice presidential candidate. US President Biden said that Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is a replica of Trump on some issues. Musk also posted on the X platform: Congratulations to JD Vance for becoming the Republican vice presidential candidate. This is an excellent decision.
If Trump is elected, J.D. Vance, who will turn 40 in August, will become one of the youngest vice presidents in U.S. history and has only two years of elected experience, but he is the most representative figure of "America First" populism.
Who is JD Vance? Why does Trump favor him? If JD Vance successfully starts his political career, what impact will it have on the crypto industry? How will JD Vance's political views affect Sino-US relations?
1. From Hillbilly Elegy to Right-Wing Populist - Who is JD Vance?
1. Displacement, military service, and doctorate in law
Vance was born in Jackson, Kentucky in August 1984. When Vance was young, his mother suffered from drug addiction due to long-term use of painkillers. Later, she even became addicted to heroin and divorced several times. Because his parents failed to provide a stable family environment, Vance was mainly raised by his grandparents.
After graduating from high school, Vance served in the United States Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq to serve in the public affairs department of the US military. After retiring, Vance attended Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree.
After graduating from Ohio State University, Vance went to Yale Law School to study and received a Juris Doctor degree. His first year at Yale was taught by Amy Chua, who later encouraged Vance when he decided to write his autobiography.
2. "Hillbilly Elegy" - "Trump's Victory" as Written by an Anti-Trump Pioneer
In 2016, Harper published Vance's book, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis. The book was on the New York Times bestseller list in 2016 and 2017. It was a finalist for the 2017 Dayton Literary Peace Prize and won the 2017 Audie Award for Nonfiction. The New York Times called it "one of the six best books to help make sense of Trump's victory." The Washington Post called him "the voice of the Rust Belt," while The New Republic criticized him as "the liberal media's favorite white-trash interpreter" and "the false prophet of blue America." William Easterly, an economist born in West Virginia, criticized the book, writing, "Brushstroke analysis of a group of people—coastal elites, fly-over Americans, Muslims, immigrants, people without college degrees, you name it—has become the norm. And it's killing our politics."
Vance rose to fame with his bestselling 2016 memoir about his tumultuous childhood with a drug-addicted single mother and a cycle of boyfriends in a financially struggling steel town in southwest Ohio. The book, which Netflix adapted into a film, vividly captured the anger and despair of many working-class Americans who were drawn to Trump.
In short, the book is about the "forgotten men and women" that Trump refers to when politics calls for them. But Vance had a different view of Trump at the time. A self-proclaimed anti-Trump, Vance attacked Trump with vitriol, calling him "nasty" and "reprehensible." His extreme views on the newly elected president won him further acclaim and he became a political commentator.
In addition, Vance has also made direct and sharp criticisms of Trump, calling him "nasty" and accusing him of "leading the white working class into a very dark situation", calling Trump "America's Hitler" and comparing him to "cultural heroin." But in the end, he accepted Trump.
3. The test from Trump
That all changed around 2018, in one of the most abrupt and unlikely shifts in recent political memory. Soon, Vance went from attacker to Trump follower. It soon became clear why. Vance badly needed Trump’s endorsement to run for the U.S. Senate. Trump, who sees ritual humiliation as a necessary step into his inner circle, put Vance to the test. At a 2022 rally, Trump taunted the young upstart. “J.D. is sucking up to me, and he wants my endorsement so badly,” Trump said. Vance got the endorsement, and Trump got the satisfaction of making Vance eat his words.
4. Right-wing populists who follow Trump
Vance eventually became a loyal ally of Trump. Like Trump, he supported Israel and opposed Ukraine. He embraced Trump's protectionist stance on tariffs.
On the issue of culture, Vance said he was willing to consider a federal 15-week abortion ban, but downplayed it out of awareness of Trump’s shifting positions on the issue. Trump, well aware that abortion rights benefit Democrats, has sought to distance himself from the promise of federal action and insisted on leaving the promise of a federal ban out of the Democratic platform — a cornerstone position of the party for decades.
Isaac Boltansky, managing director of policy research at BTIG, called Vance a "loyal believer in Trump's protectionist trade policies."
“From opposing U.S. Steel’s deal with Japanese steel companies to his openness to a weaker dollar, Vance is in lockstep with Trump and could bring new enthusiasm to policy efforts,” Boltansky said, adding that his “protectionist stance” should play well in swing states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Vance has also called for firing dozens of federal workers and replacing them with Republican loyalists. He said in a 2021 interview that he would "fire every mid-level bureaucrat, every public servant in the administrative state and replace them with our people."
The comments echo proposals in “Project 2025,” a blueprint being developed by some of Trump’s closest former advisers that calls for closing some federal agencies and replacing civil servants with officials seen as more loyal to the former president.
Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., endorsed Vance for the White House. The decision shows Trump Jr.'s influence over his father and how he could play a role in a future Trump administration. Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, held official positions during Trump's presidency but have since shied away from involvement in his campaign.
He also used his business connections to raise money for Trump, including arranging a major fundraiser in June in San Francisco led by Silicon Valley investors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya.
Vance has shown himself to be remarkably flexible and will no doubt be keeping a close eye on Trump’s changing thinking to find the most politically expedient solution.
More than any other candidate, Vance’s selection signals Trump’s desire to lock in MAGA loyalists and ensure they vote — even if it means losing more moderate and independent voters. Vance’s rhetoric has sometimes been harsher and more fiery than Trump’s, and his positions have been more extreme.
But his appeal to MAGA supporters is clear. Shortly after Trump’s “Truth Social” site announced his election, Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation, author of the Trump 2025 blueprint for a second term, was ecstatic. “We’re really rooting for him. We’re so happy,” Roberts told Bloomberg columnist Mary Ellen Krauss.
Golden Finance Note: MAGA has multiple layers of meaning to Trump voters. Although most Trump voters believe that "MAGA" (Make America Great Again) means "stronger borders" and "better economy", they also define it in a variety of other ways, including that it simply means "Donald Trump."
Trump named Vance as his running mate, elevating the venture capitalist-turned-senator to the Republican presidential nominee, where his embrace of populist politics has captured national attention and made him a rising star in the party.
Vance, 39, is decades younger than Trump, 78, making the sharp-tongued senator the heir to a youthful and vibrant MAGA movement. His election also sends a clear message to the nation that Trump is building a movement to reshape the country, not just for one term, but for the future.
Amid escalating political violence around the world, the gunfire at the rally was a stark reminder of the importance of the vice president, who takes over the presidency if the president is killed or unable to perform his duties.
2. Silicon Valley Investors’ Carnival
1. Vance’s Origin in Silicon Valley
After graduating from Yale Law School, Vance became head of Mithril Capital Management, a Thiel-backed venture capital firm, in 2016, where he stayed for a relatively short time. In 2017, he joined Revolution LLC, a Washington firm backed by Steve Case, as a partner focused on startups. In 2019, he moved back to Ohio and founded Narya Capital. Vance took a page from Thiel’s playbook and referenced The Lord of the Rings with his new firm, naming it Narya after the ring worn by the wizard Gandalf in the books. Narya is backed by Thiel and other high-profile investors, including Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen.
2. Vance’s delicate relationship with Silicon Valley
Vance has a somewhat complicated relationship with Silicon Valley. During his 2022 Senate campaign, which was endorsed by Thiel, he criticized big tech companies, saying they have too much power and influence over politics. He argued that his background enabled him to take on the "big tech oligarchy."
Vance also praised the Biden administration’s tech-focused antitrust enforcement, particularly Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan. That differentiates Vance from Republicans in the Chamber of Commerce, who have been critical of Khan’s broad interpretation of existing antitrust laws to prosecute tech companies that don’t fit the profile of historical monopolies.
“I think Lina Khan is one of the few people in the Biden administration who is actually doing a pretty good job,” Vance said at a conference in February.
But while Vance’s criticism of Big Tech may anger some in the industry, it’s similar to sentiments expressed by smaller businesses. Startups and venture capitalists have long complained that the size and power of Big Tech makes it hard for smaller companies to compete. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has dubbed the startup world “little tech,” noting the differences in priorities between small and large companies.
Vance has taken on Wall Street in other ways, too, supporting legislation with Elizabeth Warren to claw back pay for bank executives when institutions fail, and backing railroads with Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in the wake of the East Palestine disaster and introducing a Trump-backed SECURE bill.
3. Congratulations from Silicon Valley
Major Silicon Valley investors congratulated Vance on his victory. Musk called the decision a "great choice" and said the presidential lineup "rings victory" on X, the social platform he owns. David Sacks, an investor and Trump supporter who is scheduled to speak at the Republican convention Monday night, called Vance an "American patriot" in a post.
Delian Asparouhov, a partner at Founders Fund, a venture capital firm backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, summed up the sentiment of many of his peers when he posted: "It's JD VANCE. A former tech venture capitalist in the White House. Greatest country on earth."
The Silicon Valley tech industry has long been a liberal bastion, based in Democratic stronghold California and rooted in progressive San Francisco. But the tech world has become more Republican recently, with major figures such as Musk, Sacks and Sequoia Capital's Sean Maguire expressing support for Trump and donating to him in his presidential run against President Joe Biden.
3. Democratic Party’s Response
Biden blasted Vance, questioning the populist credentials of the No. 2 Republican and saying the campaign would cause economic harm to middle-class American families.
"That's what's going on with Vance. He raved about working people. But now, he and Trump want to raise taxes on middle-class families while pushing for more tax cuts for the wealthy," Biden said in a post on X.
The presidential campaign also noted that Trump had a falling out with his last running mate, former President Mike Pence, over his refusal to block the certification of Biden's victory. On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters marched to the U.S. Capitol, with protesters chanting "Hang Mike Pence."
Biden campaign chairwoman Jennifer O'Malley Dillon said Trump appointed Vance because he "will do what Mike Pence won't do on January 6: support Trump and his extreme 'Make America Great Again' vision at all costs, even if it means breaking the law."
4. Will Vance be good for the crypto industry?
1. Vance has publicly opposed the SEC
Vance has sided with the cryptocurrency industry on several occasions throughout his political career.
On May 16, Vance was one of 60 senators who voted to overturn the SEC’s controversial SAB 121 accounting rules, a set of policy proposals to prevent U.S. banks from custodying crypto assets.
Vance spoke on February 28 at Remedy Fest, a private conference co-hosted by Y Combinator and Bloomberg.
"If there was a worst candidate in my opinion, at least in terms of my substantive disagreements ... it would be Gary Gensler."
“Gary’s approach to blockchain and crypto regulation is the exact opposite of the way it should be regulated.”
On Feb. 7, Vance led several other Republican senators in a letter to Gensler expressing concerns about an enforcement action against cryptocurrency mining company Debt Box, after a judge found that SEC lawyers used false statements to justify freezing assets associated with the company.
“It is unconscionable that any federal agency … that generally carries out its regulatory mission through enforcement actions rather than rulemaking … would operate in such an unethical and unprofessional manner,” Vance wrote in the letter.
Vance expressed concern that the SEC's prosecution of the debt scandal was "unethical and unprofessional." Source: JD Vance
2. Praise and hold cryptocurrencies
According to Politico, JD Vance recently drafted a bill that will reform the way the United States regulates digital assets. Sources said that this bill will be more favorable to the crypto industry than a bill passed by the House of Representatives in June. It is reported that, like the House bill, JD Vance's plan will completely reform the way the US SEC and CFTC regulate the cryptocurrency market, which is a major priority for cryptocurrency companies and investors who are dissatisfied with Washington's current policies.
In February 2022, when Canada’s finance minister froze the bank accounts of a fleet of truckers protesting COVID-19 lockdowns, Vance praised cryptocurrency as a solution to the problem of government overreach.
“This is why cryptocurrencies are popular, if you have the wrong political views the regime will cut off your access to banking services,” he wrote in a Feb. 16 X post.
In a financial disclosure report submitted to the U.S. Senate in 2022, Vance reported holding between $100,001 and $250,000 in Bitcoin. The vice presidential candidate has not yet filed a financial disclosure for 2023. His current estimated net worth is at least $5 million and at most $10.5 million.
3. Trump and Vance Quotes
Since the shooting of Trump, the crypto market has clearly rebounded, and just as industry insiders were cheering the return of the bull market, good news from Republican vice presidential candidate Vance once again set off a bull market wave in the industry.
According to Golden Finance, BTC once rose above US$64,500 this morning, ETH broke through US$3,400, SOL broke through US$160, and the Meme coin sector generally rose, with PEPE and Floki both rising by more than 15% in 24 hours.
The recent crypto market can even be described as "killing the bear with one shot." Therefore, the future of the crypto industry may be brighter with Vance's election as vice president.
5. China is the biggest threat to the United States - JD Vance's anti-China stance
In his first interview since being named Trump's running mate, JD Vance called China the biggest threat facing the United States, stressing that his administration would likely take a tough stance against China if elected.
Vance has expressed a tough stance on China more than once. The senator, a venture capitalist, has previously called for "broad tariffs" on Chinese goods and advocated bringing American manufacturing back home to reduce dependence on China.
Appendix: Vance's resume
Born in 1984, he grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and was raised in part by his grandmother. After graduating from high school in 2003, he joined the United States Marine Corps and served for four years, including being deployed to Iraq.
in political science and philosophy from Ohio State University in 2009 and a law degree from Yale Law School in 2013.
He served as a law clerk to Texas Senator John Cornyn in 2011 and clerked for U.S. District Judge David Bunning in Kentucky.
From October 2014 to May 2015, he worked as a litigation associate at the Washington, D.C. office of Sidley Austin and for one year as director of operations at the biotechnology company Circuit Therapeutics.
In 2016, he became the principal of Mithril Capital Management in San Francisco, and in 2017, he joined Revolution LLC, a venture capital firm in Washington, D.C., as a partner focused on startups. In 2016, he published Hillbilly Elegy.
In 2019, he moved back to Ohio and founded Naraya Capital and the nonprofit Ohio Renewal.
Run for U.S. Senate in 2021. Win a hotly contested Republican primary in May 2022 and be elected in November.
On July 16, 2024, the Republican National Convention formally approved JD Vance's nomination as the Republican vice presidential candidate.
Source: Golden Finance, Bloomberg, Reuters, CoinTelegraph
