Despite FTX’s Collapse, Miami’s Mayor is Still a Bitcoin Believer

Miami’s Bitcoin-bullish Mayor, Francis Suarez, stays trustworthy to the asset after the collapse of one of many world’s largest crypto exchanges shook confidence within the trade. 

The mayor steered that Bitcoin can nonetheless present quite a few advantages not supplied by the fiat forex system. 

Could Bitcoin Replace the Dollar?

During an interview with CNBC on Friday, Suarez was requested if he believed regulators had been responsible for permitting the FTX disaster to develop and finally explode. Certain trade leaders, similar to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, have blamed a lack of regulatory readability within the U.S. for driving the trade to unregulated markets abroad.

Suarez, nonetheless, selected to not level fingers. 

“When individuals lose cash, and issues don’t go the way in which that they anticipate, everybody desires responsible somebody,” the mayor mentioned. “We stay in a capitalist nation, the place individuals threat capital. Sometimes it really works out for them, generally it doesn’t.”

Part of Suarez’s enthusiasm round Bitcoin from a perception in its potential to unfold free market ideas the world over. In December 2021, he claimed Bitcoin may “eradicate communism on the planet, liberate individuals and democratize their decisions,” due to its immunity to financial debasement. 

Some have even cited this high quality when theorizing about how Bitcoin may replace the dollar – one thing Suarez’s interviewer referred to as a “ridiculous notion.” Although Suarez hesitated to again that declare, he acknowledged Bitcoin for having benefits over the fiat forex system. Those embrace the blockchain’s capacity to create “environment friendly transactions,” and help in cross-border remittances. 

Suarez additionally pointed to the rising momentum in favor of digitizing the greenback by way of stablecoins – cryptocurrencies backed 1:1 with laborious forex. 

“Numerous this is media pushed,” mentioned Suarez relating to latest panic round crypto and FTX. “Maybe in 6 months, bitcoin is at 30,000, or 40,000. Are you going to have me again on and say ‘Mr. Mayor, you’re tremendous good?’

Miami’s Bitcoin Initiatives

Suarez discovered himself in competitors with New York City mayor Eric Adams in 2021 to show which politician was most dedicated to Bitcoin. After Suarez promised to receive his subsequent paycheck in BTC, Adams announced that he’d obtain his following three paychecks within the prime two cryptocurrencies. 

Suarez later topped the then-newly elected mayor, promising to just accept his entire salary in Bitcoin. 

At Miami’s Bitcoin convention in April of final 12 months, Suarez voiced plans to integrate Bitcoin into “each side of society.”