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US mayors set an example and get paid in Bitcoin

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The mayors of several US cities, including New York City and Miami, want to draw their salaries in Bitcoin. In doing so, they are signalling to the thriving industry that their city is crypto-friendly. Meanwhile, a sort of competition seems to have broken out for the title of US crypto capital.

Recently, New York City elected a Democrat, Eric Adams, as mayor for the first time. Adams, the son of a butcher and a cleaning lady, is a vegan – and a fan of cryptocurrencies.

Under his leadership, New York should become “the centre of the cryptocurrency industry”, Adams said in a tweet. When he is inaugurated as mayor in January 2022, he said, he will receive his first three paychecks in bitcoin.

In an interview with CNN, Adams said Bitcoin is “the new way to pay for goods and services globally.” He plans to bring the subject into school curricula. Schools, the mayor-elect but not yet mayor, said, “have to” teach the technology as well as “the new way of thinking.” Further, he said, the former police officer will work to encourage businesses in New York to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

“I want to make sure that the city becomes the centre of innovation, whatever innovation, and that’s what it’s about mentally: engaging without fear in any innovation that moves our country and our city forward.”

He also plans to create his own cryptocurrency for New York to rival Miami. Adams explicitly said he wanted to enter into “friendly competition” with the Florida city, which created the first urban cryptocurrency, the MiamiCoin.

Who is the most crypto-friendly mayor in the entire country?

All in all, a kind of competition seems to have broken out among US mayors as to who runs the most crypto-friendly city in the entire country. Adams, for example, is trying to outdo his Miami colleague, Mayor Francis Suarez, with the three paychecks, who only recently announced that his next paycheck will be “100 per cent in Bitcoin”.

Ultimately, of course, Suarez will receive dollars, but will change them entirely into Bitcoins. Adams is likely planning to do the same. Miami’s CIO (chief information officer, IT manager) advised Suarez to register with Strike to have all or part of his salary automatically exchanged. For himself, he said, this has already worked excellently for parts of his salary.

Suarez’s open crypto policy has turned Miami into a crypto hotspot in a relatively short time. Numerous startups and investment funds have set up shop in and around Miami, while more and more miners are taking advantage of cheap energy from the area’s nuclear power plants. It was no coincidence that Miami became the place where the “Bitcoin 20221”, the largest Bitcoin conference ever, took place.

Suarez is resolutely pushing for a municipal opening to cryptocurrencies. For example, he plans to allow tax payments in bitcoin, to also allow city employees to receive their salary directly in bitcoin (instead of exchanging it afterwards), and he plans to convert part of the city’s financial resources into bitcoin.

MiamiCoin (MIA), launched under him in September, is considered a success, even if the price is still quite volatile. MIA runs on a layer based on Bitcoin thanks to the Stacks protocol, which enables smart contracts, which is also exciting because Miami is thus not lagging behind the technology with years of delay – as one is used to from state institutions – but becoming a pioneer. With MIA, you can support Miami and ensure that the city earns cryptocurrencies, while the holders of MIA earn STX tokens.

New York Mayor Adams sees MIA as a role model of sorts. He says the coin is “doing very well – and we’ll look to kick-start something similar.”

Adams is not the only mayor to be inspired by Suarez. The trend, writes NASDAQ, is warming up. Suarez and Adams are being followed by other mayors.

Scott Conger, the mayor of Jackson, a medium-sized city in Tennessee, has announced that he too will switch his next salary payment to Bitcoin. Likewise, Jane Castor, mayor of Tampa, the third-largest city in Florida, is hinting at exchanging her next paycheck as well. Tampa, she says, is poised to become “the next big hotspot for cryptocurrencies. “

The game theory, NASDAQ says, “is taking hold gracefully, and mayors across the country are scrambling to present their city as the most Bitcoin-friendly.”

And indeed, Miami’s Mayor Suarez is not taking kindly to being trumped by his counterpart in New York. He announces shortly afterwards that he will not only switch his next paycheck, but his entire annual salary to Bitcoin.

One may venture a prediction that the trend will continue in the United States. The four mayors of New York, Miami, Jackson and Tampa will not be the last to open up to Bitcoin. On the other hand, it will probably take a good while before German cities also join this trend.

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