By Shelly Melancon (Switzerland)
New York City mayoral election frontrunner Eric Adams has revealed that he will make the city a bitcoin center in less than twelve months if he becomes the next New York City mayor. He made this revelation after the close of primary elections today.
During his election night party speech, Adams said, “I assure you that this city will be remarkably different within the next one year. This city will be the hub of all modern technology including bitcoin, drones, driverless cars, cybersecurity, and life science.”
Adams Is in Clear Lead in The Mayoral Race
The New York Times reports that Adams leads other mayoral candidates for New York city’s mayor position with about 33% votes. However, he won’t know whether he is the winner until the election results are announced by the middle of next month.
A candidate would have given Adams a run for his money because he made similar promises as Adams dropped out of the race during the week. His name is Andrew Yang, a former presidential candidate, and long-term bitcoin enthusiast. A New York times survey reveals that Maya Wiley is the closest challenger for Adams, but she is far behind him with about 76,000 votes.
While Adams didn’t expound on how he intends to achieve its lofty ambition, he did send a subtle message to his primary rival (Miami Mayor Francis Suarez). He said, “Miami, you’ve had your time; our businesses would soon be back.” However, Adams might not have it easy because Miami has taken concrete steps to ensure that bitcoin is adopted at the city level.
Miami’s Bitcoin Hub Agenda Already Running
Suarez’s personal goal is to ensure that Miami becomes a bitcoin-smart city by next year. The Miami mayor is trialing how the city commission can invest its funds in bitcoin, allow residents to use bitcoin to pay taxes and fees, and even use bitcoin to pay the city’s workforce.
Also, Suarez is taking steps that can attract bitcoin miners to Miami city. It should be noted that Suarez has some personal bitcoin investments, which he made during the period when president Joe Biden revealed its almost $2 trillion stimulus package plan.
Adams’ Dream New York City Hub May Encounter Obstacles
Conversely, if Adams became mayor, he might not easily outpace Miami to make New York city a bitcoin hub. Legislation policies, especially the infamous BitLicense, make it almost impossible for bitcoin operations to exist. A recent report reveals that the application fee for the business license is $5,000. Then, the applicant would still need to spend more than $120,000 on the remaining part of the application process.
Most bitcoin practitioners opined that the detailed requirements pose privacy concerns for successful applications. The license seems to be an obstruction to bitcoin operations in the city. For example, Strike, the lightning network, doesn’t work in New York, whereas it is the protocol El Salvador is using to establish bitcoin as a legal tender.
The New York state financial services department issues BitLicense, and it has been in effect since August 2015.
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