Miami inches toward crypto adoption; Proposes to pay workers in BTC

Miami residents might soon start paying all or part of their taxes, among other fees in Bitcoin (BTC). The city’s pro-crypto mayor, Francis Suarez unveiled this news through a tweet on February 12, noting that the city’s commission held a meeting on Thursday and voted in favour of promoting crypto. Reportedly, the city might also let its workers choose to receive all or part of their salaries in BTC.

Reportedly, the city’s commission approved this resolution 4-1. However, the commission went back to its original wording, seeing as it only agreed to explore the feasibility of these options. As such, the city did not take any action.

Suarez, who has been wooing Silicon Valley investors and leading technology firms for months, told the commission that,

Adding BTC to the city’s balance sheet

Per the resolution, Suarez also wants the city to explore the possibility of investing some of the city’s funds in BTC. However, this is not a clear path, considering Florida statutes are strict on how local governments invest extra funds. At the moment, these rules restrict local government investments to low-volatility investments such as those offered by the US government.

However, Suarez doesn’t consider BTC’s volatility as an issue. According to his original resolution, the city is committed to promoting the emergence of BTC as the coin continues gaining adoption. Nonetheless, some of the city commissioners warned against adopting BTC without an extensive study of the associated risks.

Manolo Reyes, one of the city commissioners, said,