New York City Mayor Wants His First Three Pay Checks In Bitcoin

Newly-elected New York City mayor Eric Adams says he’s going to be accepting his first three paychecks on the job in Bitcoin.

Responding to Anthony Pompliano’s tweet asking who the first American politician to accept their salary in BTC will be, Miami mayor Francis Suarez said “I’m going to take my next paycheck 100% in bitcoin…problem solved!”

Coming in to one-up Suarez, Adams also responded saying:

“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!”

It’s not clear yet if either mayor wants to receive their salary in a fixed number of Bitcoin, or US dollar-denominated amount of BTC.

Adams’ promise comes following a string of pro-Bitcoin comments. Speaking with Bloomberg radio, the new mayor hinted that he was taking notes on Suarez’s crypto-friendly approach in Miami.

“Part of the meetings I’ve been having is to bring together the whole Bitcoin industry. We need to do several things with it. Number one, we need to look at what’s preventing the growth of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in our city, what is in the way of that. I’ve met with the mayor of Miami and we’re going to have a friendly competition...

He has a MiamiCoin that is doing very well — we’re going to look in the direction to carry that out.”

Mayor Adams also vowed to “build out a pipeline” of young talent that understand blockchain technology and can come in and help create the crypto ecosystem, adding that “we can’t have a one-sided city where certain groups and areas are doing well and those in the inner cities are not.”

So far, Miami’s Suarez has led the way this year in integrating Bitcoin into the public system. In September, he told Anthony Pompliano that he was working to create “a crypto-friendly environment for our state,” and to change how Bitcoin is classified as far as regulation, banking, and holding it on the public balance sheet.

“Every day that Bitcoin becomes more and more mainstream, I think is a good day for the city to hold it as an asset, particularly given some of the levels of inflation that we’re seeing in the C.P.I (consumer price index) over the last few months.”