According to the bitqs.online, the US mainly produces clean energy. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez wants to turn Miami into a Bitcoin hotspot and mining hub. He hopes to attract the Bitcoin community and industry to the city with favorable regulations, pay taxes with bitcoin, and salary in bitcoin for civil servants. He is also investigating whether the municipality can invest in bitcoin.
Mayor Francis Suarez wants to make Miami the most innovative and technologically advanced city in America. For years, he has been trying to entice the IT sector in Silicon Valley to switch from California to Florida. The hope is that this will create new and high-paying jobs. Recently, he also focused on the Bitcoin community and sector. In an interview with Laura Shin of Unchained, Mayor Suarez explained his motivation: “We wanted to be in a position of importance because we think crypto is the future, and we wanted to be known as the city of the future.”
“As a city, we have introduced a decree that will allow our employees to be paid in bitcoin and allow our residents to pay taxes in bitcoin, as well as allow the city to explore opportunities for the city to invest in bitcoin,” he said. Suarez also wanted to create a favorable business climate for the Bitcoin sector and was inspired by Wyoming’s progressive and ‘crypto-friendly’ legislation. In previous interviews, he also mentioned Wisconsin and New York.
Symbolic
Many civil servant salaries are not yet paid in bitcoin. “Not really”, admits Suarez, “This was an exciting way for us to stay innovative and give our employees options. “It is also not sure whether the city can invest in bitcoin because regulations limit the city’s investment opportunities if the volatility is too high. Suarez says he is still looking for creative ways to lower the risk.
It, therefore, seems mainly symbolic steps with which he wants to put Miami on the map of the Bitcoin community. Suarez also indicated this during an earlier interview with FOX. He said at present, “The world is always watching, and the world is always seeing what cities are doing. If you innovate, you can benefit as a city, as we do. So I want the creative and innovative class to come here and make this place a hub for getting jobs and opportunities.”
Proponent of Bitcoin
Underlying probably also plays a role that Suarez is a proponent of Bitcoin. “It’s exciting,” Suarez said, “because it also helps Bitcoin goes more mainstream. And I think it contributes a lot to Bitcoin’s success when approved and used by government agencies, which are seen as the biggest threat to Bitcoin. ”
Suarez became familiar with the technology in the past through his participation in the Florida Blockchain Foundation and the Florida Blockchain Taskforce.
He seems particularly intrigued by the economics of decentralization. “I understand people’s frustration with the government,” he said, “And about overspending by governments and governments manipulating policies to achieve all kinds of goals. And that is why more and more people are being attracted to a system that’s decentralized.” is not linked to a central bank. And I think that’s why it’s exciting, especially when you look at what governments have done in the country and globally. “By this, he presumably refers to the large-scale creation of money by governments to combat the economic consequences of the COVID crisis.
He says: The future of Bitcoin looks bright, and “As long as regulations don’t limit it unnecessarily and there is no major hack or something like that, then I see an upward trend. “Suarez says he hopes the crypto revolution will eventually end government policies based on budget deficits. Today, governments can finance budget deficits by creating new money, but Bitcoin cannot. “And then they will have to borrow money, just like everyone else has to borrow,” explains Suarez, “They can’t just print their own money. They have to borrow money at interest, and if governments are fiscally irresponsible, they will have to borrow worse and worse interest rates.”
Crime
He dismisses concerns about the use of bitcoin for criminal purposes: “The currency with which most illegal activity in the world occurs in the history of the world is the dollar. And we are not taking the dollar out of circulation because it is used for illegal activity”. He, therefore, does not understand why cryptocurrencies, in particular, evoke such strong associations with a crime.
Climate
While Miami may be one of the cities hardest hit by climate change, Suarez is not concerned about the energy consumption of bitcoin miners. “Part of the problem with bitcoin mining is that 90% is not done in the US,” he explains, “90% is done in countries where the energy is not clean. And that’s why it’s seen as a polluting activity.”
Miami would even like to become a mining hub, he says: “Because A) national security reasons, because we don’t think 90% of the miners should be outside the US and B) because we have nuclear power, so we have clean energy, a clean energy source. So whose energy is almost inexhaustible”? In the future, he foresees that solar energy and hydroelectric power plants will play an increasingly important role in the mining process.
Suarez also says he expects bitcoin mining to change over time and that the technology will continue to develop so that it consumes less energy. However, what he means is not clear. He may understand bitcoin mining a little less well than the monetary aspects. When asked whether bitcoin mining in combination with the warm temperature in Miami is a good idea, he answered that he does not expect the city to warm up. However, the question is related to the energy costs of cooling installations in mining centers.
$135 million sponsorship deal
Suarez’s strategy already seems to be bearing some fruit. For example, the city managed to attract the exchange FTX as a new sponsor for the local basketball stadium. It is a 19-year sponsorship deal of 135 million dollars, with the stadium named after the exchange. Also, Bitcoin 2021, the “biggest Bitcoin event ever,” will be held in Miami next June as a result of Mayor Suarez’s commitment.
