Bitcoin BTC Crypto Friendly Miami Mayor Francis Suarez Enters Presidential Race

[ad_1]

Bitcoin-friendly Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run for president.

Suarez, who has vowed to make the city a bitcoin hub and accepted his salary in bitcoin, joins a growing Republican field seeking to oust President Joe Biden in the 2024 election. He faces an uphill struggle to establish national name recognition among several high-profile candidates who have already announced their candidacies, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Miami elected Suarez twice.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Miami also called “Magic City attracted an exodus of tech workers from Silicon Valley and New York. Several crypto companies have moved there permanently.

Suarez, who touted bitcoin’s “democratizing impact on the future of wealth for every American” in a 2021 interview with CoinDesk, discussed ways to accept taxes and pay city workers in the currency. He also announced MiamiCoin (MIA), built on the adjacent Bitcoin blockchain, Stacks, which he hoped could one day pay recurring BTC stimulus to the citizens of Miami.

By 2022, MIA had lost around 95% of its value from an all-time high of around 5 cents eight months earlier, according to data from CoinMarketCap. In March, crypto exchange OKCoin suspended trading of MIA and a second city coin, NYCCoin, citing limited liquidity as the reason for the decision.

In a CoinDesk interview in 2022, Suarez said that despite MIA’s struggles, he remained a supporter of crypto. “People ask me the same thing about bitcoin, the fact that it’s lost over 50% of its value, but that doesn’t change my feelings about the fundamental technology,” Suarez said.

[ad_2]