Miami’s mayor is a big fan of cryptocurrency
Miami already has a lot going for it – the sunshine, the beach, the Cuban coffee. Now the city’s mayor Francis Suarez wants to put it on the map for another reason: he wants to be the first to create a new way of raising money for the city – through a new cryptocurrency.
MiamiCoin, an experiment he launched this year, could bring in so much revenue that there could be a future scenario where “Miamians would no longer need to pay municipal taxes,” the Republican told the BBC.
That is one aspiration, and beyond that, he hopes one day to be able to hand out MiamiCoin to every resident, as a kind of digital dividend.
MiamiCoin is just one part of Mr Suarez’s drive to establish Miami as a centre for cryptocurrency.
“I believe we’ve been presented a very unique opportunity to diversify our economy,” he said. “Prior to the pandemic over 60% of Miami’s economy was service sector-based. That left us particularly vulnerable to Covid and I won’t pass on the chance to change that.”
But while Mr Suarez is first out of the blocks, he’s not the only mayor in the race for crypto-capital of the US. Hot on his heels is the man about to take over next month as New York mayor, Eric Adams.
What are cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrencies, depending who you ask, are either about to revolutionise the global economy, circumventing national governments’ hold on finance, and putting power in the hands of ordinary citizens, or they are risky and unstable tools, that enable illegal activities, from ransomware to drug dealing.
A cryptocurrency is a digital product, created without the backing of any central bank or payment system, created or “mined” by computers running complex software programmes.
Anyone willing to invest the time and money to set up the necessary computing equipment can mine, or even establish their own cryptocurrency. They can also be bought and sold, like investing in a commodity.
The best known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has attracted enormous attention, has been very volatile, and fortunes have been lost and made investing in it. But many other cryptocurrencies have now been established in its wake.
Watch: What are cryptocurrencies?
Mr Adams, a Democrat, who takes office in January, has promised to make New York a crypto-hub. He has talked about city employees getting paid in cryptocurrency and wants lessons on cryptocurrency in New York schools.
Once he’d heard that Mr Suarez had asked to get his first paycheque in Bitcoin, the New Yorker requested the same for his own first three months’ pay. Mr Adams …….
Source: https://news.yahoo.com/miami-banking-cryptocurrency-york-wants-012010915.html
