Eric Adams, Mayor of All the Bitcoins | David Z. Morris

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Eric Adams will be the next mayor of New York. The former NYPD cop was declared the winner of the Democratic primary yesterday, so unless there is an unlikely rise in his Republican opponent, cat rescuer and guardian angel founder Curtis Sliwa, Adams Will replace Mayor Bill de Blasio in January following the November general election.

I live in New York and hate to perpetuate the general bias of the East Coast media, but in this case a mayoral election really seems to matter outside of town, especially for businesses and traders. of cryptocurrency. New York has some of the most restrictive cryptocurrency rules in the country, the much-lamented Bitlicense. This is particularly onerous because New York City is a major financial center, so the 2014 law hampered crypto offerings by New York-based entities and to New York residents.

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But Adams was vocally pro-crypto, declaring in late June that New York would become the hub for bitcoin under his leadership. Adams is not as passionate about bitcoin as Mayor Andrew Yang’s former rival, and his slight malapropism, it’s fair to assume that Adams isn’t exactly a crypto expert, though he also has spoke positively about crypto in 2015.

Instead, Adams’ promise (like his statements in 2015) came amid a much wider endorsement of disruptive innovation. New York City, Adams said, is set to become the hub of life sciences, the hub of cybersecurity, the hub of bitcoin. Were going to be the center of all technology.

In short, Adams appears to be focusing more on well-paying jobs and a vital economy than on changes to the financial regulatory status quo. In many ways, this is extremely bullish for the industry, a sign that crypto is stealing the show from Silicon Valley as a synecdoche for innovation and growth. And New Yorkers were eager to receive that message thanks to an unemployment rate of 10.9% in May, well above the national rate of 5.9%. This is probably thanks above all to the loss of tourism, which is a huge engine of New York’s economy, during the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s also a significant signal locally given the gradual backlash in 2019 against plans to build an Amazon headquarters in the Borough of Queens, which had its rationale but was seen by some as anti-jobs. . Adams is more of a centrist than these anti-Amazon activists, and aims primarily to appeal to New York blue-collar workers. Much of its platform is focused on small businesses, but the nod to technology is part of this wider promise of more and better jobs.

It’s not like Adams has much influence on the crypto issue anyway: the Bit license was imposed by lawmakers in Albany state, and the mayor of New York generally has a controversial, if not downright hostile, relationship with the state capital. His chances of getting changes to the Bit license are close to zero.

So if Adams is to make New York City a hub for bitcoin, his real options include the kind of programs he pursued as Brooklyn Borough President, including investing in STEM programs for students. local. It’s an uphill battle to attract more hometown kids into the local tech industry pipeline, but if a city can pull it off New York City, which has some of the most successful high schools and public universities in the world. country.

It is also possible that Adam’s quality of life metrics are helping to attract new businesses or individuals to the city. These include improved child care services and a firm but fair approach to violent crime, which has gradually progressed. The time would certainly be right, given continued emigration from the San Francisco Bay Area and a historic drop in rents in New York City.

But ultimately these are edge issues. The advantages of New York for crypto or any other business are greater and longer lasting than any mayor. This is more evident in the comparison to Miami, which has also recently made an effort to attract crypto firms, but has serious drawbacks in the effort. To pick just one, only 29.8% of Miami-Dade County residents have a bachelor’s degree, according to census data, compared to 37.5% in Brooklyn and 61.3% in Manhattan.

Traditionally, this difference in the talent pool has been a determining factor. Companies that hope to hire the best people, which usually includes the most innovative companies, are more likely to locate near large talent pools. That’s why, despite the hassle of Bit licensing for companies moving crypto, the city is already home to some major blockchain companies, including Chainalysis, Grayscale, and its sister company, CoinDesk.

Of course, that calculation itself changed drastically during the pandemic. The new acceptance of work from home (WFH) means that companies are more likely to hire employees who do not live near their headquarters, especially for white collar jobs in tech and technology. ‘information. New York City is currently at risk of losing up to $ 720 million in tax revenue from commuters who do not work in the city. So while he may make efforts to make New York City a more crypto-friendly city, Adams’ most important job will simply be to keep the city a place where people actually want to live.

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