- Miami Mayor Francis Suarez will take the entirety of his next paycheck in BTC.
- “I’m going to take my next paycheck 100% in bitcoin,” tweeted Suarez.
- Suarez’s move marks a first in U.S. politics.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has committed to taking his next paycheck fully in bitcoin, becoming the first known U.S. politician to make such a move.
The mayor, who is a BTC bull and has been taking large strides to integrate the network into his city’s operations, announced today his intention to convert 100% of his next paycheck into bitcoin on Twitter.
“I’m going to take my next paycheck 100% in bitcoin…problem solved,” tweeted Suarez in response to Anthony Pompliano’s tweet asking who would be the first U.S. politician to accept their salary in BTC. The mayor asked for the help of Miami's CIO Mike Sarasti.
Sarasti said he had already sent the Mayor a Strike link for him to register and be able to receive his paycheck in bitcoin. “My experience receiving a portion of my pay last week went flawlessly,” Sarasti tweeted, hinting that he has been converting some of his own salary into BTC already. “Boss move,” he said, referring to the mayor’s decision to receive all, rather than part, of his pay in bitcoin.
Mayor Suarez is vocal about turning Miami into a Bitcoin hub, which would integrate bitcoin into city operations and allow employees to receive their paychecks in bitcoin. The latter might not be necessary for actual implementation by the city, since people can do that with solutions such as Strike already. But enabling citizens to pay for city fees and taxes is also in the mayor’s plans.
In February, Suarez’s proposal to integrate Bitcoin into Miami’s operations received approval, but the development has since stalled. The mayor received support at a county level shortly after, in April, but there has been little progress so far. More recently, however, Suarez claimed that paying government employees in bitcoin was still a “major priority” for the city of Miami.