- The mayor of Miami will be taking his entire salary in bitcoin.
- “I feel very comfortable getting my entire salary in bitcoin,” he said in an interview.
- Government spending and “manipulated central bank currency systems” drove him to make the bold move.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez will be taking his entire salary in bitcoin, he said in an interview with FOX Business. Suarez explained that he wants to provide the option for city employees to receive their salaries in BTC, partly or in full, but it won’t be imposed on anyone.
“Our CIO was the first employee to take a percentage of his salary in bitcoin and I’m going to be employee number two,” the mayor said. “I’m taking 100% of my salary in bitcoin.”
Suarez wants to level up the field and allow all city employees to be paid in bitcoin, but “it will be completely optional,” he assured. “We want our employees to have that option but it’s certainly not going to be something that we’re going to force on them.”
The mayor said he understands that “a decision like that is a personal decision.” Still, he wants his city to be at the forefront of technological advancements in the U.S. and “send a message to the world that we are going to be one of the most innovative governments and innovative cities on the planet.”
Suarez’s statement comes two days after he tweeted his intentions to get his next paycheck in BTC. But now it seems he isn’t happy with only one payment and has increased the stakes to his entire salary. If Suarez follows suit on his claims, the mayor would be taking home around $97,000 per year of bitcoin and become the first U.S. politician to be fully paid in BTC.
Miami Mayor’s move might be a swift, game-theoretic response to the New York City Mayor-Elect Eric Adams, who earlier today replied to Suarez’s tweet saying he would take not one but three paychecks in bitcoin. However, Suarez credited “manipulated central bank currency systems” as the main driver for his move.
“When governments are spending that kind of money that they are, when you have inflation at the point that it is, when you have rampant overspending in government and deficit spending, all of that pushes in favor of an increase in the price of Bitcoin,” Suarez said. “So I feel very comfortable getting my entire salary in bitcoin.”