Keeping one of the promises he made on the campaign trail last year, NYC Mayor Eric Adams announced that he will be converting the initial income from his new job to two of the most influential cryptocurrencies of the moment: Bitcoin and Ethereum.
New York City mayors draw a public salary of $258,750 each year. That means mayor Adams will be converting roughly $5,900 to BTC and ETH on a biweekly basis, based on the average estimated tax withholdings for similar paychecks.
Adams sees the move as a symbol of NYC’s leadership as a global financial center. “New York is the center of the world, and we want it to be the center of cryptocurrency and other financial innovations,” he said, in a prepared statement. “Being on the forefront of such innovation will help us create jobs, improve our economy, and continue to be a magnet for talent from all over the globe.”
The New York mayor is the second American politician to “take” crypto as paymentm following Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who announced late last year that he would begin taking his next paycheck in bitcoin via Twitter. Adams followed suit.
Adam’s first check converts to as much as .14 Bitcoin or 1.82 Ethereum, based on Thursday morning’s exchange rate (but this is crypto, so feel free to move that decimal place wherever you need to). The mayor did not say how he was splitting the check between the two.
Blocktalk’s Take
It’s an old trope by now. First it was “nobody takes Bitcoin”, then it was “almost nobody”, then it was “only criminals”, then “only small businesses”. Now, it’s “only small countries”.
Welcome to the future, Mayor Adams. We’re happy to have you.
Source | Images: NYC Mayor’s Office, via NBC News.