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American Political Leaders Playing High-stakes Bitcoin Pledge War

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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Last updated:

June 25, 2023

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Politicians appear set to use bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins as tools to score points with crypto-keen voters and citizens in some of the USA’s biggest cities – as would-be New York mayor Andrew Yang and current Miami mayor Francis Suarez appear keen to outdo each other with far-reaching new promises and manifesto pledges that can also help attract new investments into these cities.

Andrew Yang. Source: a video screenshot, Youtube/Andrew Yang

Suarez, per Bloomberg, has proposed investing a “limited amount of government funds” in bitcoin, and said that he “is committed to promoting the emergence of bitcoin as it continues to gain mainstream acceptance.”

And the Miami political chief might not stop there: He also proposes paying municipal workers in BTC and allowing citizens to use the token to pay their tax bills.

On Twitter, he confirmed that he was “exploring paying employees in bitcoin” and “investing city treasury in bitcoin.”

Suarez wanted city commissioners to vote to begin using BTC without hesitation. However, per a Miami Herald report, after a long discussion where commissioners raised several questions about moving into the world of cryptocurrency, they agreed by a 4-1 vote to require analysis before the city hires a company to process transactions.

Meanwhile, Yang, a former candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, appears keen to trump Suarez with some bold promises of his own.

On Twitter, Yang wrote that should he win his bid to lead “the world’s financial capital” he “would invest in making the city a hub for BTC and other cryptocurrencies.”

Democratic and Republican primaries will be held in June this year, and New Yorkers will head to the polls on November 2. Yang is the overwhelming favorite to win with almost all British bookmakers, per data from Oddschecker.

Meanwhile, responding to Yang’s pledge, Wyoming’s so-called bitcoin senator, Cynthia Lummis, who is now also serving on the US Senate Banking Committee, quipped that her connections would happily assist Yang if he decided to do away with the state’s much-maligned crypto service providers operating permit system, the BitLicense. She wrote on Twitter,

“Wish ya the best of luck keepin’ up with Wyoming. Reach out when you need to unravel the BitLicense. I know some folks who would be happy to help.”

Wyoming is already known for its pro-crypto and blockchain policy.

In either case, one thing America is not short of is crypto-keen politicians. The mayor of Reno, Nevada, Hillary Schieve, has previously gone public with her support of Chainlink (LINK). Schieve gleefully waded into the fray.

Crypto advocates welcomed all this crypto-themed political point-scoring and expressed their hope that it could eventually help end centralized finance once and for all.

Bitcoin advocate Brian Harrington opined,