NYC Mayor-Elect Doubles Down on his Bitcoin Plans

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Fresh from his election win, New York City’s mayor-elect Eric Adams is doubling down on his crypto-related plans, announcing plans to have the city’s schools teach students about the technology that underpins bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies.

“When I talked about blockchain and bitcoins, young people on the street stopped and asked me: what is that? What is it about?” Adams said in an interview with CNN. “We need to inspire the energy again.”

The mayor-elect said cryptocurrency was “a new way of paying […] throughout the entire globe” which was why it was necessary to “open our schools to teach the technology and teach this new way of thinking when it comes down to paying for goods and services.”  

The Democrat, who is scheduled to take office on January 1, told voters during his successful campaign that one of his priorities would be to ensure that the Big Apple attracted new technologies and cutting-edge businesses, including crypto-focused businesses, thus enabling New York City to become “the center of bitcoins.” 

Most recently, Adams also declared he would accept his next three paychecks in bitcoin. The mayor-elect later clarified, as reported by Bloomberg, he would have to convert his dollar salary into the cryptocurrency, but that he would also like to examine how New Yorkers can “have a choice of how they want to receive their paychecks.”

Asked whether it was not a conflict of interest to accept his paycheck in crypto similar to making an endorsement of a particular stock, Adams replied that he would be using his personal money, and that he had “lost thousands of dollars in the stock market during the stock market crash”.

“Volatility is part of some of the investments that we make,” he said. “I want to make sure that this city becomes a center of innovation”.

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