A growing number of mayors in cities across the U.S. have said they want to be paid in bitcoin. The mayor of Miami has said he will take his entire salary in cryptocurrency, two more mayors will convert their paychecks to bitcoin and the mayor-elect of New York will take his first three paychecks in crypto.
More Mayors of US Cities Ask to Be Paid in Bitcoin
A growing number of mayors in U.S. cities want to be paid in bitcoin. At the time of writing, at least three mayors and one mayor-elect have said they will take their next paycheck in bitcoin.
The first mayor to say that he will be paid in bitcoin is the mayor of Miami, Florida, Francis Suarez, who tweeted Tuesday, “I’m going to take my next paycheck 100% in bitcoin.”
In response to Suarez’s tweet, New York Mayor-elect Eric Adams tweeted that he would receive his first three bitcoin paychecks when he takes office as New York mayor.
Following Adams’ tweet, Suarez said in an interview with Fox Business that he will not just take his next paycheck in bitcoin but will take his entire salary in BTC. The mayor of Miami noted that the city’s CIO “was the first employee to take a percentage of his salary in bitcoin,” adding:
I am going to be employee number two … I will be taking 100% of my salary in bitcoin.
“We are certainly not going to impose it on anyone,” said the mayor. “It will be completely optional … We want our employees to have this option, but it certainly will not be something that we are going to impose on them, knowing that such a decision is a personal decision that they must make if they wish. to do it.
Suarez has recently been re-elected as the mayor of Miami. He has been trying to build his city into the crypto capital of the world.
Two other mayors said they wanted to be paid in bitcoin.
Mayor Scott Conger of the city of Jackson, TN, who is also trying to build his city into a bitcoin hub, tweeted Thursday:
Although state law prohibits the city of Jackson, TN, from paying me in bitcoin, I will follow the lead of [Miami Mayor] Francis Suarez & [NYC Mayor-elect] Eric Adams and instantly convert my next paycheck to bitcoin.
Another mayor interested in being paid in bitcoin is the mayor of Tampa, Florida. On Friday, WTSP, a CBS affiliate TV station, reported that Tampa is trying to be the cryptocurrency hub and the city’s mayor wants to prove it’s on top.
During Friday’s Bitcoin and Blockchain Summit in Tampa, Mayor Jane Castor floated the idea of receiving her paychecks in bitcoin. A spokeswoman for the mayor, Lauren Rozyla, then said the mayor had agreed to accept two paychecks in BTC. However, she is unsure how it will happen exactly. “It may involve her being paid in regular dollars and then investing immediately in bitcoin,” the spokesperson noted.
