NYC Mayor stands by Bitcoin pledge amid bear market, FTX: Report

Eric Adams, who grew to become mayor of New York Metropolis in January, has reportedly stood behind a marketing campaign pledge to make town a crypto hub, regardless of a drop within the value of many tokens in 2022.

In response to a Dec. 12 report from Slate, Adams instructed he nonetheless needed New York Metropolis to be the “middle of the cryptocurrency business” — one of many plans he announced throughout his mayoral run in November 2021. The New York Metropolis mayor reportedly transformed the primary of his three paychecks whereas in workplace into Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) in January and February, previous to the crypto market downturn.

“Mayor Adams believes cryptocurrency, blockchain, and different rising applied sciences provide an unbelievable alternative for innovation and financial development over the long run, and he desires to see that occur proper right here in New York,” reportedly mentioned Jonah Allon, a press secretary for Adams. “As with all monetary merchandise, value fluctuations are an anticipated function of the market — and it’s shortsighted to consider that setbacks in an business are a sign that it gained’t expertise long-term development.”

Slate’s estimates instructed that Adams might have misplaced as much as 60% of his crypto funding — assuming he HODLed these funds — based mostly on the value of BTC and ETH. On the time of publication, the BTC value was $16,998, having dropped greater than 66% within the earlier 12 months, whereas ETH was $1,249, having fallen roughly 70% over the identical interval. 

Throughout Adams’ time in workplace, the New York state authorities handed a legislation which is able to implement a two-year moratorium on proof-of-work mining. The NewYorkCityCoin (NYCCoin) mission, which launched in November 2021 with the then mayor-elect’s help, has additionally fallen greater than 93% within the final 12 months, reaching a value of roughly $0.0003 on the time of publication.

Associated: Crypto Metropolis: Information to New York

The collapse of crypto change FTX has additionally seemingly spurred state regulators and lawmakers to motion, with New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James recommending that crypto investments be prohibited from sure retirement funds. New York Consultant Ritchie Torres additionally penned a letter on Dec. 6 requesting the U.S. Authorities Accountability Workplace look into the efficiency of the Securities and Trade Fee relating to FTX.