Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday that he will be converting the initial income from his new job to cryptocurrencies, after he pledged last year to take his first three paychecks at City Hall in Bitcoin.
Adams will convert his first paycheck, which he will receive Friday, to cryptocurrencies Ethereum and Bitcoin via Coinbase, the mayor said. “New York is the center of the world, and we want it to be the center of cryptocurrency and other financial innovations,” he said in a prepared statement. “Being on the forefront of such innovation will help us create jobs, improve our economy, and continue to be a magnet for talent from all over the globe.”
Big Apple mayors draw a salary of $258,750 a year, meaning the mayor would be converting roughly $5,900 to the pair of cryptocurrencies on a biweekly paycheck based on average tax witholding.
That check converts to either .14 Bitcoin or 1.82 Ethereum based on Thursday’s exchange rate. The mayor did not say how he was splitting the check between the two.
Federal Department of Labor regulations prohibit municipal governments from paying workers directly in cryptocurrencies, so before Adams receives it into his bank account, the paycheck will “automatically” be converted into cryptocurrency via Coinbase, a crypto exchange app, according to the news release.
The announcement comes after in November Adams declared in a tweet, “In New York we always go big, so I’m going to take my first THREE paychecks in Bitcoin when I become mayor.”
The vow was issued days after Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced that he would take his next paycheck in the digital currency, and shortly after Adams cruised to victory in November’s general election.
Adams, who took office on Jan. 1, has in recent months vowed to make the Big Apple a crypto-friendly city.
In November, Adams said he believes cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies should be taught in schools. Bitcoin, Adams explained on CNN, is a “new way of paying for goods and services throughout the entire globe.”
“And that’s what we must do: open our schools to teach the technology and teach this new way of thinking,” he added on Nov. 7.
Also in November, the then-mayor-elect flew to Puerto Rico for the annual SOMOS conference on the island via bitcoin billionaire Brock Pierce’s private Gulfstream jet.
