The mayor of the city of Miami, Francis Suarez, is reportedly considering letting city employees receive their salary in the flagship cryptocurrency BTC. Bitcoin, he believes, will be the “biggest story of the next few years.”
In an interview with Forbes, Mayor Francis Suarez revealed he has always been fascinated with the idea of bitcoin and its mathematical nature, and is aware of the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies in general among the American people.
In a bid to expand Miami’s bitcoin-friendly nature, he is reportedly considering three paths, one of which would give city employees the opportunity to receive their salaries in bitcoin. The other paths would see local fees and taxes accept payments in bitcoin or in another cryptocurrency, and seeing the city’s treasury allocate capital into bitcoin.
Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey reacted to the interview on social media, saying it would be a “smart” move to allow city employees to get paid in BTC.
While an exact figure for how much BTC the city could buy wasn’t advanced, the mayor pointed out he knows he wants the investments to be structured in a public-private partnership, where private partners are rewarded for taking some of the risk.
Mayor Francis Suarez has earlier this year revealed he was considering allocating 1% of the city’s reserves to bitcoin. Its treasury reportedly doesn’t hold any commodities and instead sticks to cash and cash equivalents, which makes a “strong statement of interest in what holding bitcoin can do for the city of Miami.”
The mayor is reportedly also considering financing his re-election campaign in BTC. Per his words, most people have “underestimated this [bitcoin] story.” Other politicians have in the past raised funds in the cryptocurrency, including Democratic Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang.
Featured image via Pixabay.
