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New York and Miami Mayors Vie to Become Crypto Havens

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The mayor-elect of New York City, Eric Adams, has accepted crypto guru Anthony Pompliano’s challenge and has said that once he takes office as mayor he will receive his first three salaries in Bitcoin.

With this move, the Democratic mayor-elect seeks to compete with Miami city’s Mayor Francis Suarez in attracting new business in the cryptocurrency industry. Francis Suarez was the first public official in the United States to announce that he would receive his next paycheck in Bitcoin.

Adams’ pledge signals a change to New York City vis-à-vis bitcoin and cryptocurrencies relative to past administrations that were indifferent or completely antagonistic to the industry. In July, the New York State Congress introduced legislation to ban bitcoin mining.

Eric Adams - Francis Suárez - Miami mayor - El American
Eric Adams (EFE)

Throughout the state of New York, bitcoin mining centers have been acquiring their own power plants to produce the energy needed to mine bitcoin. In fact, New York currently accounts for 19.9% of the hash rate (processing capacity for bitcoin mining), surpassing states such as Kentucky, Georgia or Texas.

An aerial photo made with a drone shows Riot Blockchain’s Whinstone bitcoin mining facility in Rockdale, Texas. EFE

The Big Apple is also home to major crypto brokers such as Gemini or Coinbase, which have established offices in the city. However, the high tax burden and regulations, which even prevent the acquisition of certain cryptocurrencies within the state of New York, have caused many businesses to migrate to other locations such as the city of Miami.

Competing cities

Following Adams’ announcement, the Miami mayor couldn’t resist raising Pompliano’s challenge even higher, and on Thursday in an interview with Fox Business assured “I’m quite comfortable in receiving my entire salary in Bitcoin”.

According to Suárez, “the manipulated currency system of the central bank”, led him to take this decision to receive all his payments in the cryptocurrency.

El alcalde afirmó que recibiría su salarios en Bitcoin en una entrevista en Fox News. (EFE)
The Miami mayor stated that he is comfortable with receiving all his salaries in Bitcoin in an interview on Fox News (EFE)

The Miami mayor has been one of the main promoters of bitcoin implementation in the public sector. Suarez has advocated the adoption of cryptocurrency for civil servant payments.

The Cuban-born mayor has also actively promoted the establishment of crypto businesses in Miami. This year the city hosted the Bitcoin 2021 conference, the largest cryptocurrency event ever held globally, where major figures of the decentralized economy came together to expound on the future of the industry, with Francis Suarez appearing as a speaker.

Although New York continues to be the main center for cryptocurrency-related businesses, Miami is taking the lead in attracting new projects, attracting cryptocurrency brokers such as Okcoin, eToro, or XBTO; or cryptocurrency investment funds such as BlockTower.

Economist, writer and liberal. With a focus on finance, the war on drugs, history, and geopolitics // Economista, escritor y liberal. Con enfoque en finanzas, guerra contra las drogas, historia y geopolítica

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