Miami Mayor proposes resolution offering to pay employees in bitcoin

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Miami Mayor Francis Suarez speaks to the media during the annual hurricane preparation exercise at the City of Miami’s Emergency Operations Center on May 29, 2019 in Miami, Florida. 

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) recently proposed a resolution that would allow municipal workers to choose whether or not they want to receive some or all of their pay in Bitcoin.

In the draft of the resolution, Suarez also proposed allowing city residents to pay property taxes or city fees in cryptocurrencies, according to Bloomberg.

Bitcoin has proven to be a volatile cryptocurrency that can spike or lose more than half its value in just a month’s time. However, Suarez has said that he supports Bitcoin and even plans to have his city manager analyze the possibility of investing a “limited amount of government funds” in it, Bloomberg reported.

“[Miami] is committed to promoting the emergence of Bitcoin as it continues to gain mainstream
acceptance,” Suarez stated in the resolution.
 
The resolution is reportedly set to be presented to the city’s governing commission for approval on Thursday. 
 
Surarez has some support on the commission in Vice Chairman Ken Russell stating that he is “certainly not opposed” to including Bitcoin in city business, though he expressed that the city’s government needs to know what it is getting into, Bloomberg reported.
 
“What needs to be done is diligence, and not just from the legal perspective,” Russell said. “It’s not just a currency, it’s a concept.”
 
Tags Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies Francis Suarez Miami

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