"Miami's mayor is gunning to make Magic City a crypto paradise."

"Miami is scheming for ways to become the U.S. bitcoin capital. Mayor Francis Suarez told CNBC last week that his city would welcome bitcoin miners with open arms, as China picks up its nationwide crackdown on miners. What’s more, Suarez also said that the city was looking into lowering energy prices to further entice miners, as well as working to establish enterprise zones with lower tax rates and regulations to tempt bitcoin operations to set up shop.

“We want to make sure that our city has an opportunity to compete,” Suarez said. “We’re talking to a lot of companies and just telling them, ‘Hey, we want you to be here.’ ... We understand how important this is ... miners want to get to a certain kilowatt price per hour. And so we’re working with them on that.”

Suarez is a notorious bitcoin fanboy. He owns both bitcoin and ether, Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency. Earlier this year, he announced that Miami was studying ways to pay its city employees in bitcoin. That’s probably something that may give some workers pause given this week’s cratering prices, but it’s a move that made him popular among crypto fans and got Suarez campaign donations from tech investors. Earlier this month, cryptocurrency exchange FTX officially got a deal approved by the county to sponsor the Miami Heat’s home court arena."

Molly Taft reports for Earther June 21, 2021. [2]