Francis Suarez, who has been Mayor of Miami since 2017, wants the city to be the most attractive in the USA for the crypto and blockchain industry.
In an interview with Forbes posted on Sunday, Suarez said that Miami lawmakers are investigating the policies of crypto-friendly areas like Wyoming and New York to promote regulatory incentives for crypto and blockchain in Florida.
“[Miami is] Make sure we have the most advanced crypto laws, ”Suarez said. “We want to make sure we believe we will win when all things are the same. So we just want to level the playing field. We want to make sure that no one has an advantage over us based on laws that are easy to change. “
Mayor Suarez did not describe the race for the regulatory winner as a battle between lawmakers in other jurisdictions. Rather, he gave Wyoming “praise for being smart at attracting crypto firms,” but added that “every city in America and the world should try to expand its technological ecosystem.”
“We are working to ensure that our incentives are in place and that our legislation promotes crypto and blockchain and is forward-looking.”
The mayor has made several bullish statements about Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto in the past few weeks, including Miami considering paying city workers in BTC instead of US dollars. He also suggested allowing Miami residents to pay local fees and taxes using crypto and investing part of the state treasury in Bitcoin, a task he described as “the most difficult” of the three ideas.
He has spoken to a number of high profile figures in the crypto community, including a meeting with Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. Earlier this month, Tyler said the mayor is “leading the way for governments and Bitcoin”.
Mayor Suarez did not provide a timetable for when these measures could take effect for Miami’s 450,000 residents, but some members of the crypto community seem to have taken note. Last week, Bitcoin 2021 announced it was moving from Los Angeles to Miami for its June crypto conference.
