Mayor-elect Eric Adams won’t have to go to City Hall to collect his paycheck when he assumes office. Instead, Mr. Adams said he’ll take his first three paychecks in bitcoin.
He said this on Thursday, following Miami’s Mayor (Francis Suarez) sentiments on Tuesday about taking his next paycheck in bitcoin.
While Eric’s sentiments stand, it’s not immediately clear if the New York City Office of Payment Administration disburses salaries in bitcoin.
Responding on Twitter to bitcoin enthusiast, Antony Pompliano, Eric Adams, a Democrat who won the New York City mayoral race after beating Republican Curtis Sliwa, announced he’ll accept salary in cryptocurrency.
“In New York, we always go big, so I’m going to take my first THREE paychecks in Bitcoin when I become mayor. NYC is going to be the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries! Just wait!”
Adam hails MiamiCoin
Andrew Yang, Adam’s Democratic primary opponent, made crypto an important part of his mayoral campaign. Yet Adam, a former police officer who won the race, had no place for cryptocurrency in his campaign until now.
However, Adams praised Suarez in an interview on Wednesday about his crypto adoption (MiamiCoin). Adam was enthusiastic about Suarez for making a giant leap.
“[Suarez] has a MiamiCoin that is doing very well. We [in New York City] are going to look in the direction [of a digital currency] to carry that out”.
MiamiCoin is a cryptocurrency made for Miami people and is meant to help the city make passive income. But profits are split between the digital currency creators (CityCoin) and Miami city — a partnership that facilitated the coin’s use in the city.
Adam’s not influential to sway masses to crypto
Edward Moya, Oandam’s (FX broker) senior market analyst, said for Adam to want his first three paychecks in bitcoin is a clear sign “bitcoin is attracting a wide range of interest and you can now include the New York mayor”.
Moya also confesses Adams is unlikely to influence more people to jump on the crypto wagon. “[He] is not a very influential person for swaying the people that are on the fence to join the cryptoverse”.
But this isn’t the first time Adams is raising hopes for crypto adoption in the city.
In June, when Adams won the Democratic nominations, made a promise via his victory speech to make NYC “the center of bitcoins” and “the center of all the technology”.
That said, efforts to adopt crypto may attract the attention of Letitia James (NYC Attorney General), who recently imposed a ban on unregistered digital currencies.
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