Miami Citizens To Earn Bitcoin Despite The City Does Not Hold Crypto

[ad_1]

Miami is fast becoming the crypto capital of the United States. In August of this year, Magic City was the first state in the United States to launch MiamiCoin (MIA), its own cryptocurrency used for civic engagement. A few months later, Mayor Francis Suarez announced that every Miami resident with a digital wallet would be eligible to receive a Bitcoin dividend.

While such a proposal would make Miami the first city in America to provide Bitcoin (BTC) yield to its residents, Mayor Suarez told Cointelegraph that the city of Miami does not currently own or own MiamiCoin, or any crypto. – currency elsewhere.

According to Suarez, CityCoins is an independent community acting in a personal capacity. “CityCoins launched MiamiCoin as a way for citizens to engage more intimately with their cities and governments,” Suarez said. He further noted that part of CityCoins’ mission is to build the cities they aim to support by offering 30% of all mining rewards to their namesake city.

Since the rewards are distributed in cryptocurrency, CityCoins acts as the custodian of Miami’s rewards until they are converted into dollars and officially offered to the city. Suarez explained:

“The reason Miami residents will be able to earn Bitcoin dividends is that before the city receives the CityCoins cash gift, CityCoins can reinvest the MiamiCoin rewards and earn a yield in Bitcoin. This is my intention. that Miamiians get every penny of that return A community that invests in their city deserves that money to be reinvested in the community.

Patrick Stanley, Community Manager for CityCoins, further told Cointelegraph that since mining for MiamiCoin began on August 4, Miami has generated more than $ 22 million. More importantly, Stanley pointed out that this amount is denominated in Stacks’ STX token. This is the case since CityCoins is a project built on Stacks, which is an open source network of decentralized applications and smart contracts built alongside the Bitcoin blockchain.

According to Stanley, STX reports an annual percentage return of 10% in Bitcoin. Given this, he believes that over the next five to ten years, every Miami resident could receive a few hundred or even thousands of dollars a year in BTC if this approach continues. Stanley explained:

“The city of Miami will experiment with BTC generated by its cash flow to give its citizens US dollars. This is very powerful, as Mayor Suarez has essentially activated all citizens to become supporters of the MiamiCoin protocol, which will also allow people to create NFTs, build apps, and provide crypto payments.

Given the potential of MiamiCoin, Suarez noted that it aims to allow every Miami resident the opportunity to participate in the crypto and blockchain movement. Stanley added that more than $ 150,000 in artwork has been created using MiamiCoin, and the protocol can fuel smart contracts as well.

Timeline for CityCoins adoption remains uncertain

While MiamiCoin appears to be thriving, Suarez said he is fully aware of the legal hurdles and complexities that can come with community adoption. “There’s no way of knowing how fast we can make this a reality,” he said.

Even if this is the case, it has become clear that other innovative US cities are planning to follow Miami’s lead in implementing a CityCoin. Most recently, New York City launched “NewYorkCityCoin” (NYCCoin), which occurred shortly after Mayor-elect Eric Adams said he wanted to make New York City a crypto-friendly city. Stanley noted that a New York CityCoin was then voted on by the community once Adams mentioned the idea. “New York got ahead of San Francisco because mayor-elect Eric Adams was outspoken about the initiative,” Stanley said.

Related: What Can Eric Adams Do? The limits of New York’s transformation into a crypto hub

Still, stocks can speak louder than words in the case of CityCoins hit rate. For example, a Cointelegraph article recently pointed out that New Yorkers are unable to legally mine NYCCoin because residents have no compliant means of purchasing STX tokens. This is the case since the coin is not available on any exchange holding a BitLicense, which is required for residents who buy crypto in New York City.

Interestingly, at the time of writing this article, more than $ 7 million has been generated by mining NYCCoin since mining began on November 11. Still, Stanley noted that it was not necessary to be a resident of the city represented by CityCoin to operate it. :

“MiamiCoin is an open membership protocol. You only need a web wallet and choose the CityCoin you want to mine, then transfer the payment from the stack.

Stanley added that an Austin CityCoin could be next, given Austin Mayor Steve Adler’s interest in cryptocurrency.

Crypto education is a determining factor for CityCoin adoption

Aside from the challenges, it’s important to point out that crypto education can be a big factor for cities wishing to adopt CityCoins. For example, Adams recently mentioned that he wanted the teaching of cryptography to be taught in schools in New York City.

Echoing Adams, Suarez explained that Miami identified the need for a more comprehensive educational program to prepare students for the next generation of technology and finance:

“We are already exploring the expansion of the Miami charter school network with the goal of providing this education more suited to the industry. The city of Miami currently has $ 20 million set aside in its designated portfolio and we expect to receive $ 4-5 million this week. We have a lot of ideas on how we can spend the money, and we fully intend to listen to community feedback on how to deploy the funds.

As the idea of ​​crypto education looms on the horizon for both New York and Miami, Suarez added that a six-month freeze has been put on the spending of all MiamiCoin funds in order to to best assess the needs of the community. “We are already in discussions with a number of leaders in the Bitcoin community to explore wallet options and technologies like Lightning – we are going to take our time to make sure we get the right tech and educational stuff,” he said. declared.

[ad_2]