Miami Losing Its Vice And Going All In On Bitcoin
Miami is losing its vice image and is set to go all in on Bitcoin (BTC) after city commissioners voted in support of Mayor Francis Suarez’s resolution to introduce salaries, taxes, and fees to be paid in Bitcoin.
As well as Miami residents having the option of being paid in and paying for city services in Bitcoin, the resolution aims to make Bitcoin a part of the city’s state treasury.
Mayor Francis Suarez has been vocal about turning Miami into a Bitcoin-friendly city and the new tech-hub, and the forward-thinking mayor proposed the resolution to the commissioners, who voted in favour of the move.
Mayor Francis Suarez sent out a videocast, saying the move to make Miami a Bitcoin friendly city would allow ‘the city manager, after analysis, to procure a vendor to be able to offer our employees to get a percentage of their salary in Bitcoin, allow our residents to pay for fees in bitcoin, and also would allow the city manager to cooperate with the Miami county to allow for taxes to be paid in Bitcoin.’
The mayor said it the state legislature had requested ‘the city of Miami supports efforts to make Bitcoin an acceptable currency for us to potentially invest in, in the future.’
‘It’s wonderful to be a very crypto forward city,’ added Mayor Suarez, who ended the broadcast by thanking his ‘commissioner colleagues for making it happen.’
There’s Still Miami Vice In the Commission, However
Mayor Francis Suarez didn’t get it all his own way, however. The mayor proposed the city start accepting Bitcoin payment services immediately, but after a long discussion and a 4-1 vote the city voted for further research before hiring a company to help with Bitcoin integration.
Commissioner Joe Carollo was the only one who voted no, and he said even though he understood the mayor had done ‘a fabulous job’ and his ‘intentions are coming right from the heart’ the commissioner said he wouldn’t ‘drink the Kool-Aid on this one.’
Miami Looking To Make Itself a Bitcoin City
Now that Miami has voted on the mayor’s resolution to make it a Bitcoin-friendly city, the commission will look at ways to explore how to integrate Bitcoin payments for city services.
The city will now launch education campaigns in English, Spanish and Creole to inform residents about the capabilities of Bitcoin and digital assets, and will encourage the Florida Legislature to pass laws to allow the city to invest public funds in Bitcoin.
Once further research is done, it’s expected Miami will fully integrate its payment services with Bitcoin, and although no company has been mentioned yet, many expect Jack Mallers’ Strike application to be part of the process.
Strike is an application built on the Lightning Network and allows for instantaneous transactions free of charge. The application allows users to send any currency to any other currency in a split second.
The application is being used by Carolina Panthers star Russell Okung, who is now earning half of his NFL salary paid in Bitcoin. And it’s expected the application will be rolled out globally this year.
Paid In Bitcoin
Mayor Francis Suarez understands integrating Bitcoin into the city will give Miami an economic boost, and possibly turn the holiday hotspot into a tech hub.
The commission listened to the mayor, and now Bitcoin payments are set to be introduced into Miami city services.
It’s a win win for the city of Miami and Bitcoiners, who are attracted to forward-thinking locations. And as business-legacy cities, such as New York and San Francisco dither about the most disruptive technology of our time, Miami will continue to attract their money and brains.
A Bitcoiner since 2017 and a Bitcoin Maximalist since 2018, Tommy is our main writer and editor at Bitcoin Maximalist. Other than researching and writing about Bitcoin, Tommy loves spending time with his family and supporting his beloved Leeds United.
