In this episode of BeInCrypto’s Video News Show, host Jessica Walker will discuss New York City’s incoming mayor, who has taken a pro-crypto stance since his electoral victory last week.
After announcing that we wanted to make the city more crypto-friendly, New York mayor-elect Eric Adams said last week that he also wants to receive his first three paychecks in Bitcoin. Watch the full video as we break down this move from the former police office who won the mayoral election and what it means for crypto adoption in the US and across the globe.
Bitcoin paychecks
New York Mayor-elect Eric Adams revealed on Twitter on Friday he intends to take his first three paychecks in Bitcoin. Adams also doubled down on his plans to make New York the “center of the cryptocurrency industry” once he takes office in January.
The clear statement of political support for cryptocurrency came in response to an earlier tweet by Bitcoin podcaster Anthony Pompliano: “Who is going to be the first American politician to accept their salary in bitcoin?” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who won reelection earlier this week, replied to the tweet, saying that he plans to take his next paycheck in Bitcoin. This prompted Adams to respond by one-upping his colleague: “In New York we always go big, so I’m going to take my first THREE paychecks in Bitcoin when I become mayor.”
The race to become the first politician in the United States to accept their salary in crypto is indicative of the friendly rivalry between New York and Miami to become the leading crypto hub in America. After he won the Democratic nomination for mayor in June, Adams promised in his victory speech that New York would become the “center of Bitcoins.”
New York Coin?
In an interview with Bloomberg radio on Wednesday, Adams vowed to “look at what’s preventing the growth of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in our city.” He also indicated plans to follow Suarez’s footsteps with the creation of MiamiCoin.
In that scheme, individuals use Stacks, a smart contracts and application layer built on Bitcoin, to mine MiamiCoin, with 30% of the revenue going back to the city to fund public projects. The remaining 70% of revenue can be locked to earn rewards in Bitcoin and Stacks.
New York has some of the strictest crypto exchange rules in the United States after introducing the controversial BitLicense regulatory regime in June 2015, which has been criticized for being hostile to crypto. The BitLicense applies to crypto organizations involved in transferring, buying, selling, exchanging or issuing crypto. New York residents are only legally allowed to buy and sell tokens from registered organizations. There are currently 105 approved digital currencies in the state, but the overall feeling is that the legislation is suffocating growth.
Following the production of the video, CityCoins announced that they would be launching an NYCCoins, following the success of its MiamiCoin. CityCoins singled out Adams’ enthusiasm to make New York a crypto hub as the reason for its decision.
Crypto in schools
The incoming New York mayor also wants crypto taught in schools. He appears to be doubling down on his pro-crypto stance, asserting that schools should incorporate cryptocurrency studies into their curricula.
Speaking during a Sunday interview with CNN’s State of the Union, Adams described cryptocurrency as “a new way of paying for goods and services throughout the entire globe,” urging local schools to equip students for “the new way of thinking” brought about by blockchain technology and digital assets. “We must open our schools to teach the technology, to teach this new way of thinking.”
He also indicated plans to encourage New York businesses to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, saying he would “tread carefully” and “get it right.” The mayor-elect added that New York must remain a “center of innovation, no matter what that innovation is.”
NY Crypto mining
And it seems New York City and state can become leaders when it comes to Bitcoin. In early October, there were multiple reports about bitcoin miners displaced mainly from China were looking into setting up new operations in the US. One of the main locations is New York state with its chilly climate and abandoned industrial infrastructure ripe for repurposing.
Crypto mining company Coinmint, for example, operates facilities in New York, including one in a former Alcoa aluminum smelter in Massena, which taps into the area’s abundant wind power, plus the cheap electricity produced from the dams that line the St. Lawrence River. The Massena site, at 435 megawatts of transformer capacity, is billed as one of, if not the largest bitcoin mining facility in the U.S.
New York was weighing legislation this year to ban bitcoin mining for three years, so it could run an environmental assessment to gauge its greenhouse gas emissions, but lawmakers have since largely walked it back.
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