Crypto FOMO seems to have grabbed hold of a handful of prominent US city mayors. An increasing number have now expressed their intention to be paid in Bitcoin.

The amount of major American mayors showing inclination for Bitcoin or crypto payments is now four, and includes Miami’s Francis Suarez, Tampa Bay’s Jane Castor, Jackson’s Scott Conger and New York’s mayor-elect Eric Adams.

Considering there are some other notably crypto-friendly areas of the US, for example Texas and Wyoming, it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn more mayoral types are putting two and two together and coming up with digitally-based “sick gainz” in their heads.

The trend was started by Florida’s Miami mayor, Suarez, who last week tweeted, “I’m going to take my next paycheck 100% in bitcoin.”

Responding to Suarez’s tweet, New York’s Adams, said he’ll be taking his first three “paychecks” in Bitcoin when he takes office as mayor of NYC. 

Not to be outdone, however, Suarez then said in an interview with Fox Business that he’ll not only take his next pay cheque in Bitcoin but will actually be taking his ENTIRE SALARY in BTC.

Elaborating further, Suarez said that the Miami’s Chief Information Officer “was the first employee to actually take a percentage of his salary in Bitcoin”. 

“I am going to be employee number two … I will be taking 100% of my salary in Bitcoin,” said Suarez.

“We certainly are not going to impose it on anyone,” Suarez stressed, however. “It will be completely optional… We want our employees to have that option, but it certainly is not going to be something we are going to force on them, understanding that a decision like that is a personal decision they have to make if they want to make it.”

As reported by Stockhead in August, the Miami mayor, who was recently re-elected, has big plans for the city to become a major “crypto capital”.

 

Cash converters: Jackson and Tampa Bay mayors are crypto fans

Mayor Scott Conger, of Jackson, Tennessee, and Mayor Jane Castor of Tampa Bay, Florida have also both recently said they have plans to turn their cities into major innovation-fostering crypto hubs.

And, like Conger’s tweet above, during last week’s Bitcoin and Blockchain Summit in Tampa, Mayor Jane Castor suggested she, too, will be accepting Bitcoin as payments. A spokesperson, Lauren Rozyla, reportedly said the mayor has agreed to two pay cheques in BTC. “It may involve her being paid in regular dollars and then investing immediately in Bitcoin,” noted the spokesperson.

 

New NY mayor wants to make crypto a school subject

Meanwhile, move over calculus, chemistry and comprehension, New York’s mayor-elect, Eric Adams, wants to see crypto studies added to the school syllabus in New York State.

New York’s mayor elect, Eric Adams (Getty Images)

Speaking during an interview with CNN’s State of the Union on the weekend, Adams described crypto as “a new way of paying for goods and services throughout the entire globe,” and encouraged NY schools to prepare students for “the new way of thinking” that he believes blockchain and the digital-asset economy will bring. 

“We must open our schools to teach the technology, to teach this new way of thinking,” said Adams.

Adams also hinted at plans to encourage New York businesses to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, emphasising he would “tread carefully” and “get it right.”

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