Miami mayor says plan advancing to pay city employees in Bitcoin
BNN Bloomberg
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said it’s “a major priority” for the city to be able to pay government employees in Bitcoin. “I want us to differentiate ourselves as a crypto capital of the United States or of the world,” Suarez said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Technology’s Emily Chang.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said it’s “a major priority” for the city to be able to pay government employees in Bitcoin. “I want us to differentiate ourselves as a crypto capital of the United States or of the world,” Suarez said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Technology’s Emily Chang.
Miami will issue a request for proposal this month to help create that payment mechanism, and to let city residents pay fees -- and potentially even taxes -- in Bitcoin.
In Febuary, Suarez brought a broader proposal before city commissioners to allow Miami to invest its own funds in Bitcoin, but Florida statutes don’t currently allow local governments to hold such volatile assets. Suarez parried a question about whether he was lobbying Tallahassee for a change.
“If we would’ve been able to hold it from the moment that I put the resolution on our agenda, it’d be up by 30 or 40 per cent, so I would’ve looked like a genius back then,” he said. “But that’s the way it works.” In reality, Bitcoin increased about 20 per cent since Suarez’s February proposal.
