Francis Suarez, Miami’s pro-crypto Mayor, is still pushing for the city to embrace Bitcoin (BTC/USD) on a higher level. In an interview on October 12, Suarez said the city considers paying its employees in BTC a major priority.
According to him, adopting BTC for paying the salaries of city employees would help Miami position itself as a crypto capital of the US or the world.
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In the interview, Mayor Suarez said the city intends to issue a request to let it develop a payment mechanism that processes the salaries of city workers in crypto.
The request will also seek permission to let residents pay fees and potentially even taxes in the flagship cryptocurrency. Per Suarez, the city intends to issue this request within this month.
Suarez pointed out that he had previously proposed that the city commissioners let Miami invest government funds in BTC. However, the proposal hit a dead end, seeing as Florida statutes do not allow local governments to invest in highly volatile assets.
An ingenious way for the city to HODL crypto
Explaining why he is pushing for Miami to open its doors for BTC, Suarez said if the city purchased BTC and held it after he tabled the suggestion, its BTC holdings would have swelled by approximately 30-40%. According to him, such a milestone would have made him look like a genius.
However, his estimates were exaggerated, seeing as BTC was trading around $44,000.00 (£32,301.50) at the time. With the coin trading at $55,107.17 (£40,455.55), at the time of writing, the gains amount to 20%.
While this might seem like a small amount, an investment of $100 million (£73.42 million) would have seen the city’s crypto holdings add an extra $20 million (£14.68 million).
While state laws do not allow Miami to invest in cryptocurrencies, the city created a digital asset titled MiamiCoin (MIA) after partnering with CityCoins, a non-profit and opensource protocol that allows investors to support their city by expanding its crypto treasury while earning profits in the process.
MIA, which made its debut in August, allocates 30% of its reward to the city whenever bought or mined.
Bullish about the MIA, Suarez said he envisions the coin supporting Miami without its residents having to pay taxes. Since its launch, the coin has already generated over $7.1 million (£5.21 million) for the city, and Suarez believes it could rake in as much as $60 million (£44.06 million) over the next year.
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